No sooner had Australia’s name been etched on the T20 Men’s trophy on Nov. 14 than the International Cricket Council (ICC) announced the host venues for the next cycle of short-format men’s tournaments.
Venues for women’s tournaments are awaited.
The men’s cycle, running between 2024 and 2031, comprises 50-over One-Day International (ODI) World Cups, expanded to 14 teams; Twenty20 World Cups, expanded to 20 teams; and Champions Trophy competitions. The venues are summarised below and reveal some intriguing results.
First, the allocation of the 2024 T20 World Cup to a combination of the West Indies and the USA represents a boost for both the ailing finances in the Caribbean and the ambitions to expand the game in the US, where the ICC hopes cricket will feature in the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
Secondly, India has been granted three of the eight men’s tournaments. Although two of them are co-hosted, respectively, with Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, the award of these hostings, when added to India’s sole hosting of the 2023 ODI tournament in October/November 2023, provides further proof, if it was ever required, of India’s influence in world cricket.
Year
ICC Event (Men)
Host(s) * Full Members
2024
T20 World Cup
USA, West Indies*
2025
Champions Trophy
Pakistan*
2026
T20 World Cup
India*, Sri Lanka*
2027
ODI World Cup
South Africa*, Zimbabwe*, Namibia
2028
T20 World Cup
Australia*, New Zealand*
2029
Champions Trophy
India
2030
T20 World Cup
England*, Ireland*, Scotland
2031
ODI World Cup
India, Bangladesh*
Thirdly, England has only one hosting, with that being shared with Scotland and Ireland. This distant event in 2030 will mean an interval of eleven years between England’s last major hosting, that of the ODI World Cup in 2019. Some may interpret this as a loss of influence.
Fourthly, Pakistan has been selected to host the 2025 Champions Trophy. This 50-over tournament between the top eight ranked teams has been re-instated. It will be Pakistan’s first ICC tournament since 1996 and will be a boon for its enthusiastic fans, who were denied the opportunity to watch international cricket at home this year when both New Zealand and England abandoned their visits.
Fifthly, reflecting its recent achievements in reaching the Super12 Stage of the 2021 T20 World Cup, Namibia will co-host the 2027 ODI World Cup with South Africa and Zimbabwe.
In its official announcement of the venues, the ICC stated that this was the first time that a competitive bidding process had been adopted for ICC events and that 14 members hosting eight events reflected the global nature of the sport.
Closer inspection suggests that a more tortuous process had been followed. The decision to introduce a bidding mechanism had been made at an ICC meeting in October 2019. It reflected the ICC’s aim to make the game more global, by opening the opportunity for any member – full or associate – to bid to host ICC events. In the previous eight-year cycle, all major men’s events had been allocated to the “big three,” Australia, England and India, so the bidding process represented a shift in philosophy.
This did not sit well with the big three. India, in particular, was concerned that cricket, especially Tests, played between two countries, would suffer. It appeared to regard re-instating the Champions Trophy as unnecessary. In February 2020, to India’s apparent annoyance, the ICC emailed all members asking them to tender their expressions of interest for hosting any of the 20 global events in men’s and women’s cricket between 2024-31 by March 15, 2020.
Once these had been received, the ICC planned to use the choices to shape the timing and location of the events in the cycle. Then a formal Request for Proposal process would be opened for six months. A host of eligibility criteria was drawn up, including the required infrastructure to stage the events, the current cricketing eco-system in the market, the growth potential and development of infrastructure in place, along with guarantees placed in relation to visas, tax exemptions, customs and security.
The onset of the pandemic caused a hiatus in the process, which resumed in February this year, followed by an announcement in early June, specifying that the ICC Board would select the event hosts, rather than through an open bidding process. The change in tack seemed to turn on an argument that only a few, probably referring to three, members had the necessary infrastructure and skillsets to host the largest events. It may also reflect changes in senior personnel in both the ICC and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).
By July, 17 member nations had expressed interest, with the 10 full members submitting preliminary technical proposals. The second stage of the process would involve more detailed proposals which allow the board to make final decisions.
It delegated the overseeing of host venue selection to a three-man sub-committee. This comprised three members of the main ICC Board — the chair from New Zealand, the president of Cricket West Indies and the BCCI president, who became chair of the ICC Men’s Cricket Committee this November.
It is not clear how the members of this committee were chosen, nor is it clear what the criteria were for the final selection of hosts. The results clearly benefit India but not so much the other two of the big three. The ICC has achieved a wider global spread of events in line with its strategy. This is likely to be further enhanced once it completes a similar process and announces, in early 2022, the hosts for the women’s and Under 19’s events in the next cycle.
At present, cricket’s image is tarnished, its conduct under scrutiny. In the UK, this is for its racism scandal. Cricket Australia is in the dock for an alleged lack of probity relating to its handling of captaincy appointments. The BCCI has long been accused of wielding too much power within the game.
In this environment, the ICC’s close-knit venue selection methods would benefit from greater transparency.