The International Cricket Council (ICC) is still in the ‘wait and watch’ mode as it says contingency planning is on to hold the T20 World Cup as scheduled.
Cricket Australia. (Photo: Twitter/@CricketAus)
Cricket Australia (CA) chairman Earl Eddings has called staging the ICC T20 World Cup would be “unrealistic” and “very very difficult” amid the global crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The T20 World Cup is scheduled to be held from October 18 to November 15 this year but the shakeup in the cricket calendar due to the coronavirus pandemic has put the tournament’s fate in limbo. Rumours have suggested that it might get postponed to 2022.
“While it hasn’t been formally called off this year, or postponed, trying to get sixteen countries into Australia in the current world, where most countries are still going through COVID spiking, I think it is unrealistic, or it’s going to be very, very difficult,” said Eddings on Tuesday in a virtual press conference.
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“The ICC are having meetings as we speak, it’s a bit of a movable feast at the moment,” he added.
The International Cricket Council (ICC) Board meeting on Wednesday kept the fate of this year’s T20 World Cup hanging as they dragged the matter until at least next month when another meeting will take place.
This week’s meeting, meanwhile, saw the Board expressing the desire to continue to assess the COVID-19 situation, as a part of the governing body’s contingency planning process to explore various ways to stage the events by working in tandem with the stakeholders and the regional governments.
Meanwhile, Scott Morrison, the Prime Minister of Australia last week announced that stadiums with a seating capacity of up to 40,000 would be allowed to fill 25% of seats with spectators. For venues with larger capacity, further updates would be released.
A BCCI official had then claimed that the new decision might put India’s participation in the T20 World Cup at risk. He said that even though the Indian team would be willing to play the tournament, it will all finally come down to the directives issued by the government as well as the health professionals as the safety of the players is the priority.
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