SINGAPORE: The International Cricket Council (ICC) unanimously agreed to a new, simplified qualification pathway for the Men’s Cricket World Cup in India in 2023 at the conclusion of a week of meetings in the city on Saturday which featured the CEOs of cricket boards amongst full and associate member nations.
From May 2020, the Cricket World Cup Super League will begin that features 12 full member nations as well as the Netherlands. In a period of two years, each team will play 24 matches amounting to 156 of them in aggregate. The top eight teams including India will automatically qualify for the tournament. While the bottom five will battle it out in the qualifying event in 2022, where the two finalists will make it for the 2023 tournament.
For the 2022 event, the bottom five teams will be joined by the top 3 teams from the Cricket World Cup League 2 which features seven associate member nations competing for a period of 30 months starting July 2019 across 126 matches.
In the interests of growing the game globally through the shortest format, the ICC also agreed to relax the criterion for entry to both men’s and women’s teams in the World T20 qualification pathway. To enter the pathway, members now only require eight unique domestic teams playing a minimum of five matches over the last two years, as opposed to 10 previously. Additionally, the entry fee for each member to participate has been abolished.
ICC CEO David Richardson said:
“To date the World Cricket League has played an important role in improving standards in Associate Member cricket, but feedback from our consultation with Members clearly articulated the need for more frequent playing opportunities and greater certainty over when they would be playing.
“The new structure significantly increases the number of matches and competitive playing opportunities for our members as well as shortening the whole qualification process to two and a half years, when previously it was six. There is a clear pathway now for teams looking to qualify for the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup.
“T20, which is our global growth vehicle, already has a qualification structure in place and by removing the participation fee and lowering the entry levels we’re making it even easier for more Members to qualify in the future.”
In a landmark move, the ICC also announced that the gender would be specified in the naming of each world event such as ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup (50 overs), ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup (50 overs), ICC Men’s World T20 and ICC Women’s World T20. A separate ICC Women’s Committee will also be formed to specifically manage the women’s game which will meet twice a year and have its own directors and members.
When it comes to a new Future Tours Programme (FTP) agreement, the ICC is persuading member nations for clear commitment to early confirmation of tour itineraries and match venues. It was also agreed that in light of rising costs of cricket globally, members would make significant efforts to making international bilateral cricket more affordable with a view to long-term sustainability.
In the wake of allegations of increasing corruption in the game, the ICC has named David Howman as the new chairperson of the Independent Anti-Corruption Oversight Group (IOG), who will replace John Abbott. The IOG assists and guides the Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) chairman and GM on the development of the overall strategy adopted and implemented by the sport in dealing with the threat of corruption in the game.
Howman is a barrister from New Zealand. Formerly the director general of WADA, he is presently serving as the chairperson in the Athletics Integrity Unit of World Squash’s Ethics Commission and is also a panel member on the Australian Government’s Sport Integrity Review.
