Quantcast

Champions Trophy axed as ICC eyes Olympics

World T20 to be held every two years in place of 50-over event as governing body pushes for cricket's inclusion at 2028 LA Games

The fate of the Champions Trophy has been sealed after the International Cricket Council announced the one-day tournament has been replaced with a World T20 championship that will be held every two years.

The death-knell for the 50-over Champions Trophy is the latest stage of efforts to use 20-over cricket in a new campaign to get wider recognition and a potential Olympic place.

"The T20 format we always knew was the vehicle for growing the game and transforming the game from being a sport played by a few countries to a truly global sport," ICC chief executive Dave Richardson said after the world body met in Kolkata.

The next Champions Trophy "will be turned into a world T20 and that fits in with our strategy to use T20 as a way of growing the game," Richardson added.

It means there will be a World T20 in Australia in 2020 and another the following year. But Richardson said after 2021 the World T20 would be held every two years "to provide more teams with more opportunities to play".

Pakistan thrash India to claim Champions Trophy

Richardson is hopeful of cricket getting an Olympic place by the time of the 2028 Los Angeles Games.

"I think this decision can only help us in our move or application to the International Olympic Committee for the right to participate in the Olympics going forward," Richardson told reporters.

"It's going to take a bit of time. The 2024 Olympics will be in Paris and 2028 in Los Angeles. We have already missed the deadline to apply to IOC through the front door to get the right to participate (in the 2024 Olympics).

"We can't go to Paris. But we have continued our talks with IOC and with LA in due course, hopefully by 2028 we will have cricket in the Olympics."

The first and only time cricket was an event at the summer Olympics was at the 1900 Paris Games when Great Britain defeated France in the only match played. No other nations competed.

The ICC also said the extra WT20 will provide "opportunities for 16 teams to compete at a global level with a sub-regional, regional and global qualification process every two years" and will give "more regular cricket to more Members."

The 50-over World Cup will remain a four-yearly event. It is in England next year and India in 2023.

Pakistan won the most recent Champions Trophy, defeating arch-rivals India in the final at The Oval last year.