World Cup berth for Namibia disrupted – ICC Men’s T20 World Cup postponed
The International Cricket Council (ICC) this in statement this week confirmed that the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup in Australia 2020 has been postponed due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Namibia’s cricket team last year had created a legacy by qualifying for the their maiden T20 World Cup berth.
ICC Chief Executive Manu Sawhney in a statement said, “We have undertaken a comprehensive and complex contingency planning exercise and through this process, our number one priority has been to protect the health and safety of everyone involved in the sport.
The decision to postpone the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup was taken after careful consideration of all of the options available to us and gives us the best possible opportunity of delivering two safe and successful T20 World Cups for fans around the world, he added.
“Our Members now have the clarity they need around event windows to enable them to reschedule lost bilateral and domestic cricket. Moving the Men’s Cricket World Cup to a later window is a critical element of this and gives us a better chance of maintaining the integrity of the qualification process. This additional time will be used to reschedule games that might be lost because of the pandemic ensuring qualification can be decided on the field of play.
“Throughout this process we have worked closely with our key stakeholders including governments, Members, broadcasters, partners and medical experts to enable us to reach a collective decision for the good of the game and our fans. I would like to thank everyone involved for their commitment to a safe return to cricket,” he added.
Meanwhile windows for next three ICC Men’s events agreed to support rescheduling of bilateral cricket ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023 moved to October to November 2023 to allow longer qualification period
The windows for the Men’s events are:
ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2021 will be held October – November 2021 with the final on 14 November 2021.
ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2022 will be held October – November 2022 with the final on 13 November 2022.
ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023 will be held in India October – November 2023 with the final on 26 November 2023.
