Women’s T20 World Cup to expand to 16 teams in 2030

Bangladesh Women vs Australia Women. (Source -Getty Images)

The ICC Annual Conference concluded in Colombo today with the ICC Board and ICC Annual General Meeting attended by all 108 ICC Members. Just days before the start of the Paris 24 Olympics, the theme of the four-day conference was “capitalizing on the Olympic opportunity” ahead of cricket’s inclusion in LA28.

Governance

The ICC Board confirmed that there will be a review into the delivery of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024. This will be overseen by three directors, Roger Twose, Lawson Naidoo, and Imran Khwaja who will report back to the Board later in the year.

USA Cricket and Cricket Chile have been formally put on notice and have 12 months to rectify their current non-compliance with the ICC Membership Criteria. Neither Member is considered to have in place a fit-for-purpose detailed governance and administrative structure and systems.

The ICC Americas office will work with Cricket Chile to support them in remedying their non-compliance. The Board agreed that a Normalisation Committee comprising Board and Management representatives will be set up to oversee and monitor USA Cricket’s compliance roadmap and the ICC Board will reserve its right to suspend or expel the Member for continued non-compliance.

Cricket

The Chief Executives’ Committee confirmed the allocation of the eight regional qualifying spots for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026. This would see two teams qualify from Africa and Europe, one from the Americas, and three from a combined Asia and EAP regional final.

The ICC, with its long-term strategic commitment to equity across the men’s and women’s game, also confirmed the expansion of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup in 2030 from 12 to 16 teams.

The cut-off date for qualification for the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2026 qualifier was confirmed as 31 October 2024. The CEC approved the appointment of Paul Reiffel to the ICC Men’s Cricket Committee as the Elite Panel representative.