There was excitement in the air when the International Cricket Council (ICC) announced the USA as the first-time hosts for the T20 World Cup 2024 alongside West Indies a couple of months ago. But things might not go in that direction as the organizing country is facing a problem with its infrastructure. They seem unprepared and may even have to relinquish their hosting rights. The two countries were to offer centre stage to fifty-five matches featuring twenty teams.
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T20 World Cup 2024
What’s stopping the USA and West Indies from organizing the event?
With the T20 World Cup fast approaching, the grounds and related infrastructure in the USA to hold the mega event are still very much under-prepared. According to a report that appeared on News18 CricketNext, the ICC is unhappy about the preparations being done for the big event and it doesn’t appear that the country will be able to check all the requirements off the ICC list.
A former USA player and cricket administrator told the media that there are a lot of grounds and green patches in the country which can be used as makeshift modular grounds but that too would require a lot of time.
“Where will you host it? I can tell you that the ICC site visits which happened recently, many parks, free spaces with some green cover to be precise, were being explored to have a modular set-up in place for the World Cup. Modular stands and everything else are also modular in nature. But it’s going to be one hell of a task to even pull that off and even if they do, not entirely sure whether it would meet ICC standards. There are a lot of ICC checklists for a venue and I highly doubt the modular or the makeshift venues will make the cut,”
Hosting rights might be swapped with England
The report has revealed that the governing body of the cricket council has requested England to stage the marquee T20 World Cup 2024. England was to co-host alongside Ireland and Scotland the 20-over World Cup in 2030. If this happens, the USA and West Indies will be given the hosting rights for the 2030 event. It will provide them with enough time to prepare grounds and construct the right infrastructure.
According to the statement in the report, “There is a situation at hand. The current infrastructure situation in the USA is not very encouraging and it is likely that the ICC could well swap the hosts for the 2024 and 2030 editions of the event. It will also allow USA Cricket to get the infrastructure in order before 2030 and allow them to set the house in order too. Right now, it will be a rushed process to get the venues ready. England were already allotted the 2030 World Cup and they, unlike other nations, can host an event in June-July,”
There is no harm in swapping the host countries since the T20 World Cup is already an expanded event and without the correct foundations, it will probably cause a lot of inconvenience to the players and fans alike. It is imperative to mention here that the aforementioned information has been extracted through unofficial sources and no official statement has been issued by the ICC yet.
