The International Cricket Council’s Annual Conference concluded in Colombo today, 22 July, with the ICC Board and ICC Annual General Meeting attended by all 108 ICC Members. Just days before the start of the Paris Olympics 2024, the theme of the four-day conference was “Getting the Olympic Occasion Right” ahead of cricket’s inclusion in LA 28.

The ICC Board confirmed that a review will be conducted into the organisation of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024. It will be overseen by three directors, Roger Twose, Lawson Naidu and Imran Khwaja who will report back to the Board later in the year.

USA Cricket and Cricket Chile have been formally placed on notice and given 12 months to rectify their current non-compliance with the ICC membership criteria. Neither member has a purposefully detailed governance and administrative structure and system.

The ICC USA office will work with Cricket Chile to support them in resolving their non-compliance. The Board agreed that a normalisation committee of board and management representatives will be established to oversee USA Cricket’s compliance roadmap and that the ICC Board reserves the right to suspend or expel a member for non-compliance.

Cricket

The Chief Executives Committee confirmed the allocation of eight regional qualifying places for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026. This will see two teams qualifying from Africa and Europe, one from the Americas, and three from the combined Asia and EAP Regional Finals.

The ICC also confirmed the expansion of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup in 2030, expanding from 12 to 16 teams, in line with its long-term strategic commitment to equality in men’s and women’s cricket.

The cut-off date to qualify for the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2026 Qualifier was announced as 31 October 2024. The CEC approved the appointment of Paul Reiffel to the ICC Men’s Cricket Committee as a representative of the Elite Panel.