By Ian Omoro

The International Cricket Council (ICC) has announced an investigation into the 2024 T20 World Cup. The investigation will be overseen by a panel of three ICC board directors: Roger Twose, Lawson Naidoo and Imran Khawaja. The group will present its findings later in the year after examining the extent of spending on the US leg of the tournament and the organisation of the Caribbean leg.

The decision to constitute a review panel was taken at the 108-member ICC annual conference held in Colombo from July 19 to 22. The three-member panel will appoint an impartial consultancy firm to conduct the review before reporting to the board.

The Women’s T20 World Cup has been approved by the ICC to be expanded to 16 teams in 2030. Eight teams competed in the tournament’s first year in 2009, and there were ten teams in 2016. In October 2024, ten teams will compete in Bangladesh for the Women’s T20 World Cup. The 2026 edition will feature 12 participating teams; the qualification deadline is 31 October 2024, potentially expanding to 16 teams in 2030.

The ICC announced that the eight regional qualifying places for the next Men’s T20 World Cup in 2026 will be distributed as follows: two teams each from Africa and Europe, one team from the Americas and three teams each from Asia and East Asia Pacific (EAP). Asia had two seats and the EAP previously had one seat.

Cricket Chile and USA Cricket have also been “formally warned” by the ICC for not complying with the organisation’s membership requirements. They have one year to rectify the situation.

“None of the members are considered to have a detailed management and administrative structure and system fit for purpose,” the ICC said in a press release.

Cricket Chile will seek assistance from the ICC Americas headquarters to resolve its non-compliance. The board also decided that USA Cricket’s compliance plan will be overseen and monitored by a normalization committee comprised of board and management representatives, and that the ICC board will retain the authority to suspend or expel a member for continued non-compliance.”