The ICC Board meeting held at Kolkata today has concluded to provide T20 status to its entire member nation. Plans to introduce global rankings for the same format were also a major agenda of the meeting.
All women member teams will be granted the status staring from 1 July, 2018 while all men’s member team will get the status from 1 January, 2019. The rankings for women and men’s will be introduced in October 2018 and May 2019 respectively.
ICC also introduced a future tour programs for 2019-2023. The world Test Championship and ICC World T20 are part of the FTP. The Champions trophy will be replaced by the ICC World T20 event in 2021.16 teams will take part in the event every 2 years with qualifications starting off sub regional, regional and global.
The final structure of FTP 2019-2023:
ICC Cricket World Cup – 2019, 2023
ICC World T20 – 2020, 2021
ICC World Test Championship Final – 2021, 2023
World Test Championship
Cycle 1 – 2019-2021
Cycle 2 – 2021-2023
ICC Cricket World Cup Qualification League – 2020-2022
All bilateral Tests, ODIs and T20Is outside of the above competitions
ICC Chairman Shashank Manohar said: “I would like to commend our Members on reaching agreement on the FTP which means the ICC World Test Championship and ODI league are now cemented into the calendar. Extending international status for all T20 bilateral games and creating a global rankings table is a positive step forward in growing cricket around the world using the shortest format of our game.
ICC Chief Executive David Richardson said: “This set of meetings has seen some significant decisions made for the long term good of the game. Signing off the FTP has been the result of unwavering commitment from all Members to get to this point and we look forward to the commencement of both the new ICC World Test Championship and ODI League in 2019 and 2020 respectively.
“We are particularly pleased with the unanimous agreement to award all T20 bilateral games international status and the move to create a global ranking system for T20Is. We are committed to growing the game and T20 is the vehicle through which we’ll do this and removing restrictions and having all Members ranked is a positive step forward.
“We have already introduced a regional qualification pathway for the ICC World T20 in 2020 which is now underway and we will continue to evolve our qualification structures across all three formats to enable Members to play regular cricket and grow the game.”
Richardson added: “The message from everyone gathered in Kolkata was loud and clear – we must act to create a culture of respect that protects the integrity of the sport. We all have a responsibility to the game and its fans and the strength of feeling around the board table today means we have a unique opportunity to improve the behavior and culture across cricket.
“We are currently in the process of confirming the individuals to support us on this review and they will meet alongside the Cricket Committee in May and make recommendations to the Board in June.”