The number of teams participating in the Women’s T20 World Cup will also be expanded to 16 from 2030.
By ESPNcricinfo Staff
The ICC confirmed that it has appointed a three-member committee – Roger Tooth, Lawson Naidoo and Imran Khawaja – to investigate the conduct of the T20 World Cup 2024 and report its findings later this year.
ESPNcricinfo had previously reported that expenditure on running the tournament’s US and Caribbean editions was under scrutiny.The decision to set up the inquiry committee was taken at the ICC’s annual conference, held in Colombo from July 19-22 and attended by all 108 member countries.The three-member panel will commission an independent consultancy firm to carry out the investigation, which will report back to the committee.
The ICC also approved the expansion of the Women’s T20 World Cup to 16 teams in 2030. Eight teams took part in the inaugural tournament in 2009, and that number increased to 10 in 2016. Ten teams will also take part in the 2024 Women’s T20 World Cup, which will be held in Bangladesh in October. The 2026 tournament will feature 12 teams, with the qualification deadline being October 31, 2024, before expanding to 16 teams in 2030.
For the next Men’s T20 World Cup in 2026, the ICC has announced an allocation of eight regional qualifier spots as follows: two each from Africa and Europe, one from the Americas, and three each from Asia and East Asia Pacific (EAP). Previously, Asia had two spots and EAP had one.
The ICC also said it had issued “formal warnings” to USA Cricket and Cricket Chile for failing to meet the ICC’s membership criteria and given them 12 months to remedy the situation.
“Neither member is considered to have detailed governance and management structures and systems in place that are fit for purpose,” the ICC said in a statement. “The ICC Americas will work with Cricket Chile to assist them in remedying their non-compliance. The Board has agreed to establish a Normalisation Committee, comprised of Board and management representatives, to oversee and monitor USA Cricket’s compliance roadmap, and the ICC Board reserves the right to suspend or expel members if they continue to be non-compliant.”