LEAKED: Cricket Australia asks ICC to postpone T20 World Cup

Cricket Australia has asked the International Cricket Council to postpone the T20 World Cup by a year due to the novel coronavirus pandemic.

Reports said that the request was made in a letter by Cricket Australia chairman Earl Eddings to the ICC, which was leaked to media.

The T20 World Cup was scheduled to be held in Australia in October-November this year. At a meeting on Thursday, the ICC deferred a decision on going ahead with the T20 World Cup to June 10.

In the letter Eddings wrote:

“It would be detrimental to cricket if the cancellation of the ‘Australian event’ [this year’s T20 World Cup] is replaced by awarding of the subsequent T20 World Cup in October/November 2022… Australia has thankfully managed to ‘flatten the (COVID) curve’, meaning there is greater certainty of being able to play in Australia in 2021 (which is key to maintaining member distribution). This would give India another year to resolve any COVID-related problems,”

The fact that the letter from Eddings found its way into the media so quickly has caused consternation within the ICC.

Cricket Australia’s chief executive Kevin Roberts had previously suggested the T20 World Cup be held next February and March, or in October and November next year.

The plans to postpone the T20 World Cup come as Cricket Australia has warned of extensive job cuts due to disruption to its calendar, which could bring a loss of around Australian dollars 80 million.

Yesterday The final decision regarding T20 World Cup 2020 has been postponed till June 10 in the board meeting while all other issues on the agenda have also been postponed till June 10, 2020.

Earlier, The Pakistan Cricket Board and Cricket Ireland have announced the postponement of the Schedule of T20 series in July.

The joint decision by the two boards was taken after the Irish government announced that it would not be possible to hold closed-door matches before August 10, 2020.