International Cricket Council (ICC) has confirmed the expansion of the Women's T20 World Cup in 2030 to 16 teams contrary to the upcoming edition where only 10 teams are competing. In fact, the tournament is set to witness 12 teams participating in the competition for the first time in 2026 edition that is set to be played in England.
Moreover, the ICC Board has confirmed the qualification cut-off date for the T20 World Cup 2026 will be October 31, 2024. The Chief Executives Committee (CEC) has also confirmed how the eight regional qualifying spots for the mega event two years later. Under this structure, two teams each will make it from Africa and Europe, one from the Americas and three from combined Asia and EAP regional final tournament.
CEC has also approved the appointment of Paul Reiffel to the ICC Men's Cricket Committee as part of Elite Panel Umpire. Richie Richardson, meanwhile, will be the Elite Panel Referee on the committee. Several other decisions were taken at the ICC Annual Conference that took place in Colombo from July 19.
It was attended by all 108 ICC members and the focus was on “Capitalizing on the Olympic Opportunity” ahead of cricket's inclusion in 2028 Olympics at Los Angeles. Also, USA Cricket and Cricket Chile has been put on notice of 12 months to address the non-compliance with ICC membership criteria.
Coming back to Women's T20 World Cup, a total of 10 teams will take part in the upcoming edition that will be played from October 3 to 20. Bangladesh will host the tournament with 23 T20Is to be played in Dhaka and Sylhet. 10 teams have been divided into two groups of five each. India, Australia, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and New Zealand have been slotted in group A while West Indies, Bangladesh, South Africa, England and Scotland comprise group B.
