The ICC Board approved a 2030 16-team Women’s T20 World Cup to promote gender equality. Ten teams contested in the 2016 ICC Women’s T20 World Cup, up from eight in 2009. The 2026 England tournament will have 12 teams, rising to 16 in 2030. The Board also set the 2026 qualification cut-off date at 31 October 2024.
ICC expands Women’s T20 World Cup to 16 teams in 2030
The CEC approved eight regional qualification spots for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026. Two teams from Africa and Europe, one from the Americas, and three from an Asia-EAP regional final will qualify under this new system. Asia won 2 spots, EAP 1. On the ICC Men’s Cricket Committee, the CEC confirmed Paul Reiffel as Elite Panel Umpire and Richie Richardson as Elite Panel Referee.
Today, all 108 ICC Members attended the Board and Annual General Meeting in Colombo, which ended the Annual Conference. The four-day course, held days before the Paris 2024 Olympics, focused on “Capitalizing on the Olympic Opportunity” before cricket’s LA28 Games participation. USA Cricket and Chile Cricket were warned. Their poor governance and administrative structure and methods give them 12 months to meet ICC Membership Criteria.
Roger Twose, Lawson Naidoo, and Imran Khwaja will evaluate the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 and report to the Board later.
