Venues announced for 2020 T20 WC in Australia

Sports Desk: With Australia set to host the T20 World Cup for both men and women in 2020, the International Cricket Council have announced venues for the tournament on Tuesday morning.

For the first time, the two tournaments will be staged as standalone events, with the women’s comp to be played first in February and March, followed by the men’s tournament in October and November, theroar.com.

The big winner out of the announcement is Melbourne, with the Melbourne Cricket Ground set to host both the women’s and men’s finals. It comes as little surprise the biggest ground in Australia receives the finals, after it hosted the deciders in both the 1992 and 2015 World Cups.

ICC Chief Executive David Richardson said: “I’d like to thank Cricket Australia and their partners in Government at all levels for their commitment to the ICC World T20 in 2020. The ambition they have shown firstly in delivering stand-alone men’s and women’s events and then in the venue selection that will, I hope set a record for the biggest ever attendance at a women’s sporting event, is exciting for the sport.

“Australia has a proven track record of delivering world-class events in world-class stadiums and we know we can rely on the fans to provide great support for all of the competing teams.”

The women’s event will be played at smaller grounds, including Alan Border Field and Junction Oval. Manuka Oval, the Sydney Showground (Spotless Stadium) and the WACA will also be used for the tournament, spreading it out across the country.

Their semi-finals will be played on consecutive days in Sydney, leading into the final in Melbourne on March 8, which is also international women’s day. The organising committee has made it their aim to break the world record for attendance at a women’s sporting event.

Because the men’s tournament has two stages and extra teams, more grounds will be used, including Australia’s main international grounds.

The first stage, which sees lower-ranked full member teams join the top associate teams to qualify for the second stage of the tournament, will be played in Hobart and Geelong.

Hobart can feel like they are the big losers out of the announcement though, with the city only set to get two games in the second stage.

The Gabba as well have fewer games, with just four, while the other four cities – Adelaide, Perth, Sydney and Melbourne – get six each.

Interestingly, there are no men’s matches scheduled to be played in Canberra, despite the fact the nation’s capital will host their first Test match in 2018-19.

The semi-finals will be split between Sydney and Adelaide, with the final set to be played on Sunday, November 15 in Melbourne.

Agencies


risingbd/Dhaka/Jan 30, 2018/Nasim