By IANS,
Mohali (Punjab) : West Indies will host the World Twenty20 in 2010 instead of a Champions Trophy, it was announced by the International Cricket Council (ICC) here Saturday.
ICC chief executive officer Haroon Lorgat told reporters here that the decision was taken to avoid crowding of Champions Trophy and the World Cup.
West Indies were originally scheduled to host a Champions Trophy but the ICC board agreed it would switch to the shorter format to achieve a better mix of tournaments.
The World Twenty20 will take place between April 23 to May 9 in 2010 (the same duration as the 2009 event in England) and will be staged at three venues to be chosen by the ICC Board in January 2009 following nominations from the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB).
“With the ICC Champions Trophy being the final major ICC event of 2009, and the ICC Cricket World Cup being another 50 over event in 2011, it makes perfect sense to have a tournament of a different format in between,” Lorgat said on the sidelines of the ongoing Test match between India and Australia at the Punjab Cricket Association (PCA) Stadium.
“It means we will avoid staging the ICC Champions Trophy and the ICC Cricket World Cup close together, as happened in 2002-03 and 2006-07. We will aim to make both those events special to ensure we have a great blend of the ICC’s three majors, with two ICC World Twenty20s (2009 in England and 2010 in the West Indies) as well as an ICC Champions Trophy (in 2009) and an ICC Cricket World Cup (in 2011) over the next three years,” he added.
The ICC is also examining the feasibility of staging a women’s Twenty20 event at the same time as the men’s tournament (as will happen with the 2009 event in England) and the ICC board will make a decision on that matter in due course. The ICC Development Committee will consider the process to decide which of the leading Associate Member teams will take part in the tournament.