THE International Cricket Council's (ICC) decision to award Cricket West Indies (CWI) and USA Cricket joint hosting rights for the 2024 T20 World Cup augurs well for the sport's chances of being featured, for the first time, at the Olympic Games in Los Angeles in 2028.
So says Brian Lewis, TT Olympic Committee (TTOC) and Caribbean Association of National Olympic Committees (CANOC) president, who believes the 2024 T20 World Cup, serves as a potential launchpad ahead of the Summer Games four years later.
On Tuesday, the ICC announced that a joint bid made by CWI and USA Cricket to host the prestigious tournament was successful.
This would be the first time the T20 World Cup will be hosted in the US and the fourth occasion the WI will host a global ICC cricket event.
The 2024 tourney will be the ninth edition and the first to feature 20 teams, competing in four groups. The third edition was hosted in the Caribbean in 2010.
CWI president Ricky Skerritt and CEO Johnny Grave welcomed the ICC announcement. Skerritt was pleased the Caribbean was able to land another opportunity to host a premier world cricket event.
'And this time it will be in partnership with our neighbours to the north, USA Cricket, led by my colleague Paraag Marathe.
'We know that our strategic partnership has helped ICC to accept our bid, and we must soon get to work to make this exciting ICC decision a truly successful one for all concerned,' he said.
Grave shared similar sentiments and recognised ICC's decision as 'absolutely brilliant' to bring a top-flight international cricket tournament back to the Caribbean and into the US' sporting calendar for the first time.
He said CWI is currently in the final stages of planning the Under-19 Cricket World Cup which will be held in the region in January and February next year. Tuesday's confirmation of host-nation status, with USA Cricket, is a monumental one for Caribbean cricket fans, Grave said.
'It's brilliant news for Caribbean cricket fans and everyone associated with WI cricket. It's not since 2010 since we hosted the men's event in the Caribbean and it would be 14 years without one. Everyone in the Caribbean will be looking forward to hosting that T20 World Cup in 2024,' he said.
Lewis, however, is elated with ICC's decision but thinks the T20 World Cup would further serve as a good gauge for the US, and even the International Olympic Committee, for cricket's (T20 male and female) long-awaited inclusion in the Olympic Games, starting possibly with LA in 2028 and then Brisbane in 2032.
During his address at the 19th CANOC general assembly in St Lucia last Wednesday, president Lewis said the regional body had fully endorsed USA Cricket and CWI's bid for the T20 World Cup.
'On behalf of CANOC we are delighted it (bid) was successful because it has implications for cricket and the Olympics in 2028 in Los Angeles, USA, for T20, to earn its status as an Olympic sport.
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