Cricket is set to make its Olympic comeback, but Australia may face an uphill battle to qualify for the men’s tournament when the sport returns from 128 years in the five-ringed wilderness.
Proposed for inclusion at the 2028 Los Angeles Games, if cricket is accepted it would make the sport a shoo-in for Brisbane 2032.
Other hopefuls on the list for potential inclusion are flag football – a smaller-sided, non-contact version of gridiron – lacrosse and squash.
Baseball and softball are also being considered, having featured at several Olympics but not making the program for next year in Paris.
Out is breakdancing, set to be one-and-done after its debut in Paris next year.
Others not to make the cut include motorsports, kickboxing and karate.
Cricket was a success at the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games, though it was only played by women’s teams. Australia took the gold medal.
The format was Twenty20, as is set to be the case at the Olympics. If included, there will be men’s and women’s competitions.
The International Cricket Council (ICC) has been pushing the sport’s case, and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) appears to have been convinced by the prospect of engaging with the lucrative Indian television market.
Two years on from the governing body announcing it would bid to have the sport included at the Olympics, ICC chairman Greg Barclay was cautiously optimistic.
“We are delighted that LA28 have recommended cricket for inclusion in the Olympics,” he said.
“Whilst this is not the final decision, it is a very significant landmark towards seeing cricket at the Olympics for the first time in more than a century.”
The proposal is expected to be approved by the IOC at the end of this week.
The 141st IOC session is taking place in the Indian city of Mumbai, where they can see the impact of the Cricket World Cup at close quarters.
(Photo by Jason McCawley – CA/Cricket Australia via Getty Images)
If approved, it is expected cricket will be a six-team competition with qualification based on T20 rankings at a set cut-off date.
With hosts the USA to automatically qualify, that could spell danger for Australia’s men.
Australia are currently ranked at No.5 in T20, and have sat seventh as recently as October 2021.
The rankings-based Olympics qualification could also prompt a selection rethink, with topline players regularly rested in bilateral series.
Australia’s women will likely face no such hurdles, having long been world No.1.
Cricket has been played once before at the Olympics – in Paris in 1900.
Due to withdrawals the competition consisted of one two-innings match in which Great Britain beat France by 158 runs.
Each side had 12 players, all but two of whom never played first-class cricket. Most of the French team were British expatriates.
With five team sports pushing numbers up significantly, others may have to trim the number of disciplines for 2028 to help the IOC adhere to their limit of 10,500 athletes at a Summer Olympics.
Tempo
Roar Rookie
I think the competition is being kept small deliberately, partly because of the difficulty sourcing suitable grounds in most Olympic cities/countries but also because team sports involve a lot of athletes. Adding an extra 4 teams means another 60 athletes. I really dislike the format of giving byes to top teams through to quarter finals. It seems a bit ridiculous for a team to go all the way to the Olympics, taking up a lot of slots in the athlete village to potentially play one game. It’s not really consistent with Olympic ideals to give such a big leg up to selected teams – surely all teams should be on an equal footing once they reach the tournament. Also, don’t get me started on an under 23 competition. It’s a joke that Football gets to use the Olympics as a development tournament for the men. If they don’t want to send their best athletes they shouldn’t get to field teams. I really don’t want to see this in cricket, especially since we have a sport with rampant age cheating in the subcontinent already. If we’re going to be in the Olympics it has to be with the best athletes involved. Even then, U23 teams from India, England, Pakistan, Australia, South Africa etc would easily demolish an U23 team from the USA.
Ed Flanders
Roar Rookie
Agreed. I would have thought a better model would have been to mimic what the Asian Games have just done. In a nutshell: India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan were all given direct access to QF slots, while three groups of three played each other for the remaining 3 QF slots. An Olympic model could give the top 4 ranked teams automatic qualification to the QF's and then 2 groups of 3 play for the remaining 4 slots. Alternatively, you treat this like football and make it an under 23's tournament but allow three older players per squad. The US presence then wont be as embarrassing. That said, this wont be anywhere near as shambolic as lacrosse, where it is obvious that the final will be US whipping Canada. At least 5 of the 6 sides in cricket stand an equal chance.
Tempo
Roar Rookie
There is no way the USA should automatically qualify as hosts in a 6 team event, it would make a mockery of the competition.
Bandit
Roar Rookie
There's a few issues with with the planned qualification process. It leaves no pathway for teams like Jamaica / Barbados to to get there. And what happens if by the some chance the West Indies are ranked in the top 6 at the cut off point. Also, Great Britain doesn't have a team in the ICC rankings, do they automatically get Englands slot ?
Ed Flanders
Roar Rookie
Of the 5 proposed, the only one that should be added is squash. A glorious sport that is screaming for a high profile event like the Olympics, and is cheap to build and run. The two most ridiculous are lacrosse and flag football. It would be as silly as Brisbane 2032 including AFL.
Don Freo
Roar Rookie
Gold medals for Sam Greer and Douwtje Hoogenboezem.
The Bush
Roar Guru
Just a terrible outcome. As everyone else feels, cricket just shouldn't be in the Olympics, nor should Basketball, Tennis, Golf or Soccer. But for cricket, this is really disturbing, as the calendar is already overflowing and all this will do is increase the profile of T20 further, whilst devaluing the other formats.
The Bush
Roar Guru
That'd be so cool.
Bandit
Roar Rookie
Perhaps they could honour the 1900 Olympics when only 2 teams played in it by doing the same thing again. It could replace the test World championship, with the 2 best test teams over a 4 year cycle playing it.
Elmono
Roar Rookie
Sports should be included in the Olympics that increase the sports profile, not with the aim of improving the Olympics profile. Cricket is a horrible inclusion and they should at least be made to sacrifice having one of their world cups if it is to be included.