ICC to make a conference call of the International Cricket Council’s chief executives’ committee will take place on Thursday, during which all board members will communicate with representatives of the 11 full member countries as well as three associate countries.
Agenda for discussion will be this year’s T20 World Cup in Australia, currently scheduled for October but susceptible to postponement as an event that involves significant global travel and brings together 16 different countries.
Besides, the restructuring of the inaugural World Test Championship initially planned to conclude at Lord’s next summer, and its one-day equivalent will be discussed.
With many series already gone and more likely to follow in both formats, the possibility of rearranging every fixture gets complicated with each passing week, and stretching the time scale may be the only way to avoid outright cancellations.
In the meeting, ECB would open up about hosting rights for the final of the World Test Championship. Also, Indian Premier League and Caribbean Premier League potentially looking for new dates, the jigsaw of conflicting interests promises to be a tricky one to the total.
ICC chief executive Manu Sawhney said: “This meeting is the first step of a collective process as we assess the impact of this ongoing global pandemic and work together so the sport can emerge from it in a strong position. We need to share knowledge and start to build a deep understanding of what it will take to resume international cricket.”
Countries will start to reopen at different stages and in different ways, and we will need to respect that and have a holistic view of this to allow us to make well-informed decisions that alleviate the various risks as much as possible.
Concerning ICC events, including the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, we will continue to take recommendations from, including the host Australian government. We will make use of all of the data and information available to us to ensure we can make responsible decisions around all competitions at an appropriate time that are in the best interests of our sport.”
There was news of a recent postponement on Monday, with South Africa’s limited-overs tour to Sri Lanka temporarily canceled.
The three-match ODI series was due to be the first step on the of the Cricket World Cup Super League. Bangladesh’s tour to Ireland also postponed, so it’s not known when the first games of that new competition will take place.
