ICC Men's ODI world 2027, 2031 to have 14 teams, ICC Men's T20 world cup to have 20 teams from 2024

ICC Men's ODI world 2027, 2031 to have 14 teams, ICC Men's T20 world cup to have 20 teams from 2024

The International Cricket Council (ICC) Board confirmed on June 1, 2021 that the Men's ODI World Cup in 2027 and 2031 will be a 14-team event.

The ICC Board also informed that the Men's T20 World Cup will now be expanded to include 20 teams and will have 55 matches in 2024, 2026, 2028 and 2030.

Besides this, the Champions Trophy will involve eight teams in the year 2025 and 2029. 

• ICC World Test Championship Finals will be held in 2025, 2027, 2029 and 2031.

• The ICC Men's ODI Cricket World Cup format will have two groups of seven with the top three teams from each group progressing to a Super Six stage. 

• The super six stage will be followed by the semi-finals and final. This is the same format that was used in the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup 2003 as well.

• The ICC Men's T20 World Cup will comprise four groups of five teams and top two teams from each group will be progressing to the Super Eights stage. This will be followed by the knockout stages of the semi-finals and the final. 

• The Men's Champions Trophy will follow the format of previous editions with two groups of four, semi-finals and final.

• The ICC Women's event schedule has already been confirmed with the expansion of both Women's ODI Cricket World Cup and T20 World Cup forming part of the ICC's long-term commitment to growing the women's game, said ICC in its official release.

• The ICC Board has also approved the process to determine the hosts for all Men's, Women's and U19 cricketing events in the next cycle. 

• The hosts of the Men's events will be decided in September after the completion of a selection process that will get underway this month. 

• The hosting process for Women's and U19 events will start in November.

• ICC looks to engage with a wider range of Members including first-time hosts.

The Acting ICC Chief Executive Geoff Allardice said in an official release that having the ICC event schedule confirmed through to 2031 is a significant step forward for cricket and will form the basis of our growth strategy for the next decade.

He said that a revised approach to selecting hosts for the events will give them much more flexibility to grow the game and engage new fans. He noted that there is a smaller pool of countries that have the infrastructure needed to host our senior Men's events which narrows the selection process. 

He added that many members have expressed interest in hosting Women's and U19 events, which gives them a great opportunity to stage events in established and emerging cricket nations.

• The ICC Board has requested the management to focus its planning efforts for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2021. 

• The event is likely to be staged in the UAE and there might be another venue in the Middle East. 

• While the final decision on the host country will be taken later this month, the ICC Board confirmed that the BCCI will remain the host of the event regardless of where the event is played.