On Tuesday, the International Cricket Council (ICC) announced that the men’s ODI World Cup will now be featuring 14 teams in 2027 and 2031 as the apex council revealed its global schedule of events from 2024-2031. Meanwhile, the Champions Trophy, a ‘mini’ World Cup last staged in 2017, when Pakistan won in England, is to be revived again in 2025 and 2029 as an event for the top-ranked eight one-day international teams.
Only 10 teams locked horns with each other in the 2019 World Cup, won by hosts England, compared to 14 four years earlier. But a statement issued by the ICC board read: “The ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup will become a 14 team, 54-match event in 2027 and 2031, whilst the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup will be expanded to a 20-team, 55-match event in 2024, 2026, 2028 and 2030.”
However, ICC has made no change in the format for the next cycle of the World Test Championship, with nine teams playing six series each to compete in the final every two years. India and New Zealand will contest the inaugural WTC final in Southampton, England, later this month.
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The expanded men’s World Cup, which traditionally takes place every four years, will be following the format used in the 2003 edition of the tournament. This will see the 14 teams split into two groups of seven, with the top three in each group progressing to a Super Six stage, followed by semi-finals and final.
The men’s T20 World Cup will consist of four groups of five followed by a Super Eights stage and the knockout stages of semi-finals and a final. The Champions Trophy, in keeping with its history as a slimmed-down event, will follow previous editions with two groups of four, semi-finals, and a final.
Following the fall-out from the ICC’s decision to cut the number of teams at the 50-over World Cup to 10, the apex board had launched the 13-team ODI Super League and the top eight teams will qualify directly for the 2023 World Cup in India.
Talking about the same, ICC’s acting chief executive, Geoff Allardice said, “Having the ICC event schedule confirmed through to 2031 is a significant step forward for cricket and will form the basis of our growth strategy for the next decade.”
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The latest T20 World Cup is due to take place in October and November in India, although it could yet be moved to the United Arab Emirates because of a rise in the number of coronavirus cases in cricket’s economic powerhouse nation.
