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ICC postpones T20 World Cup in Australia

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20th July, 2020
23

Australia will still host the Twenty20 World Cup but when is still to be determined after this year’s tournament was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The International Cricket Council on Monday announced the 16-team tournament, which was due to start in October, would not be played this year.

There will be back-to-back men’s T20 World Cups in 2021 and 2022, to be hosted by Australia and India, however, the ICC has not confirmed which country will host which edition.

In the original calendar, India was scheduled to host the 2021 tournament and the ICC says it will continue to assess the impact of COVID-19 before making a decision.

Nick Hockley, the interim chief executive of Cricket Australia and chief executive of the T20 World Cup 2020, said there were too many risks for players and fans to hold the tournament this year.

“The complexities and risks around hosting a 16-team international event in October in the current environment ultimately proved sufficient for the ICC to postpone the event,” Hockley said in a statement.

“We accept the ICC’s decision to postpone the T20 World Cup in Australia. It was a decision made with the safety and wellbeing of fans, players, officials and staff in mind.

“We are confident that with this decision, we will give ourselves the best chance to safely welcome fans into the outstanding venues across the country to enjoy watching the world’s best men’s cricketers compete in this major global event in either 2021 or 2022.”

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The powerful Indian cricket board (BCCI) has resented a late call on the fate of this year’s World Cup, saying the uncertainty created a scheduling headache.

The BCCI has been open about its plans to stage its delayed Indian Premier League Twenty20 competition in the now-vacant October-November slot.

“Our members now have the clarity they need around event windows to enable them to reschedule lost bilateral and domestic cricket,” ICC chief executive Manu Sawhney said in a statement.

The ICC also moved the 2023 ODI World Cup in India to an October-November window from its original February-March slot.

© AAP

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