According to reports, the International Cricket Council (ICC) has removed USA cricket as co-host of the T20 World Cup 2024, which was originally planned to be held jointly with West Indies. As a result, West Indies is now expected to be the sole host for the marquee event.
As per a report by Cricket Next, the T20 World Cup 2024 is slated to take place in June and July of that year. However, the report indicates that USA cricket has been removed as co-host for the mega event. Sources also confirm that West Indies will now be the sole host for the tournament, without any additional co-hosts.
According to ICC sources, when World Cups are jointly hosted, the Full Member (FM) typically takes on the responsibility of hosting the event, with a staging agreement in place to ensure successful matches in other countries. In the case of the T20 World Cup 2024, Cricket West Indies has been contracted as the hosts.
It’s worth noting that the lack of clarity regarding who is running USA Cricket may have contributed to their removal as co-hosts of the event, despite being awarded the co-hosting rights. The USA was the first country to receive associate membership status from the ICC. In April 2022, the ICC confirmed direct qualification for both the USA and West Indies as co-hosts for the T20 World Cup 2024.
In the past, the ICC had banned the US Cricket Federation. Currently, the ICC is managing cricket affairs in the USA through its employees. Ricky Skerritt, a member of the ICC nominations committee, played a significant role in nominating the USA as co-host for the T20 World Cup.
In April 2022, the ICC confirmed the qualification pathway for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024, with 12 teams qualifying automatically for the event. The top eight teams from the 2022 event will be joined by the host members, West Indies and USA, as well as the next highest-ranked teams on the MRF ICC Men’s T20 rankings table as of November 14, 2022.
The ICC release stated that if West Indies finish in the top eight, three teams will qualify based on rankings, and if they finish outside the top eight, two teams will qualify from the rankings table.
