International Cricket Council has always tried to reach out to new mediums in cricket. T-20 cricket is one of the ways that cricket has been reached out to those markets where the game may not be consumed. United States of America is one such market that the ICC have been trying to penetrate for a long time.
The story so far –
ICC Is scheduled to host the next edition of the T20 world cup in 2024 in West Indies and United States of America. This would be the first time the slam bang version’s biggest prize in cricketing history would have been played in front of the American crowd.
ICC changes plans for 2024 T20 world cup –
As per News18 Cricket, the ICC now has surprisingly changed its plans. The ICC has named West Indies as the sole hosts of the T20 world cup to be held in 2024. The reason for this hasn’t been given. According to a source in the know who said “Martin Snedden, Sourav Ganguly and Ricky Skerritt were part of a Board sub-committee charged with reviewing all 28 proposals that were submitted with ICC management before making a recommendation to the Board. As part of the process, the ICC wanted to take World Cups to new territories and well-established markets in order to help deliver on the overarching strategic aim of growing the game. All bids provided extensive detail as part of the process”.
West Indies to be the sole hosts for the World Cup in 2024-
The reason for the likely stripping off USA’s hosting rights is because the behind the scenes at USA cricket has been chaotic.. USA is set to host its own franchise cricket league in the form of Major League Cricket this July. The source further said that West Indies now can be termed the sole hosts of the T20 event “For jointly hosted World Cups we often contract with the Full Member (FM) as the host who is fully responsible for the delivery of the Event. The FM would then have a staging agreement with the relevant Members to ensure the successful staging of World Cup matches in other countries. In this case, Cricket West Indies have been contracted as World Cup hosts”
ICC’s love for USA confuses observers –
Over the period of last few years some of the well known cricketing names have shifted to USA. The likes of Unmukt Chand, Liam Plunkett, Corey Anderson, Sami Aslam to name a few players have left their country to ply their trade in USA. The sources and observers though aren’t really taken in by ICC’s overtures to USA cricket.
The sources said “What I can’t understand is, why is the ICC so bent on “developing” a sport in a country that is the leading first-world nation on the planet and can afford to fend for itself? On top of that, the US neither has an elected body in place nor does it have a decent First Class culture. So what’s the hurry to take the World Cup there? Why can’t the ICC put that much emphasis on developing cricket in Nepal or any of the African nations that truly follow and play the sport? One must ask the ICC to explain their “love” for America,”