Recent reports indicate that the USA has been stripped of its hosting rights for the ICC T20 World Cup 2024. The country was slated to co-host the event with the West Indies. According to an ICC release from April 2022, the USA and the West Indies had qualified directly for the tournament as joint hosts.
This move was seen as a significant achievement for the USA, which was the first nation to be granted associate membership by the ICC several decades ago. However, the ICC has reportedly confirmed that the West Indies will now be the sole host of the T20 World Cup 2024 as the USA lacks an elected cricketing body and a decent first-class structure.
The ICC release from April 2022 had stated that the top eight teams from the 2022 T20 World Cup would be joined by the two host members (West Indies and USA), along with the next highest-ranked teams on the MRF ICC Men’s T20 rankings table as of 14 November 2022. It remains to be seen how this change will impact the tournament’s organization and scheduling.
As per ICC sources, the Full Member (FM) host, in this case, Cricket West Indies, will be responsible for the successful delivery of the event, including staging agreements with relevant Members to ensure World Cup matches in other countries.
A source expressed bewilderment over ICC’s decision to grant hosting rights to the USA, citing the country’s lack of an elected cricketing body and a decent first-class structure. The source questioned why the ICC could not consider Nepal or any African nations for hosting rights.
The report further stated that Pankaj Khimji of Oman, a member director of the Associate Nations in the governing body, will replace Ricky Skerritt, who played a pivotal role in the USA’s nomination as co-host for the 2024 T20 World Cup, in the ICC nominations committee.
