ICC renames global T20 tournament

The push to grow cricket globally through Twenty20 cricket has seen the International Cricket Council rename the format's global tournament, starting with the two events in Australia in 2020.

Sunday morning's final between Australia and England's women's teams will be the last held under the name 'World T20', with the global governing body deciding to name change the tournament to the ICC T20 World Cup.

The ICC said the name change would "enhance" the event's profile, and was "aligned to the Global Cricket Strategy, which will be launched in early 2019".

That yet-to-be-published strategy would see Twenty20 cricket " not only be used as the vehicle to globalise the game, but to also enhance its profile and status and ensure its status is at par with the pinnacle events of the other two formats".

Australia will host the first women's T20 World Cup between February 21 and March 8 in 2020, with the men's T20 World Cup to be played October 18 to November 15.

Australia men's captain Aaron Finch said in a statement: "It's exciting for Australia to be hosting both the ICC Women's T20 World Cup and the ICC Men's T20 World Cup in 2020.

"Representing your country in a World Cup is a huge honour and winning the ICC Cricket World Cup in 2015 on home soil was an incredible feeling. Now, we get the chance to take on the world's best T20 teams in Australia as part of this showcase event. 

"There's still plenty of preparation ahead for the tournament, but we're looking forward to the challenge and playing in front of our fans in Australia."

India men's captain Virat Kohli said: "I'm really excited for the opportunity to be part of the T20 World Cup in Australia. The pinnacle event for T20 cricket is rightly now the World Cup. India won the first edition of the World T20 in 2007 and it would be a great moment to hold the T20 World Cup trophy aloft in Australia."

England women's team captain Heather Knight, whose side is ranked second in the shortest format, said: "We've always loved playing in this tournament and with the increasing focus on T20I cricket, it is bound to become even more fiercely contested. It has always been a global event and we've see a number of countries perform in it across the years so the change in name makes sense.

"It's always been a World Cup to us and I'm sure to other teams as well so we look forward to playing in the ICC Women's T20 World Cup in 2020."

Pakistan men's team captain Sarfaraz Ahmed, whose side is ranked number-one in the MRF Tyres ICC Men's T20I Team Rankings, shed further light on the renaming rationale in his statement

"By renaming the World T20 as T20 World Cup, the ICC has enhanced the reputation, value and prestige of this extremely difficult and challenging tournament. This event has previously been referred to differently in marketing and digital campaigns, television broadcast, media reports. As such, there was no clarity on where this event was ranked amongst the other ICC events. I am sure this amendment will give the event its due credit and well-deserved identity.

"Pakistan is the best T20I side in the world and I am sure we will be an even better and stronger outfit when the ICC Men's T20 World Cup takes place in the second half of 2020. After next year's ICC Cricket World Cup, we will shift our attention to the 20-over format and will aim to add another T20 World Cup to our collection."

The ICC also plans to introduce a Test Championship from 2019, of which next winter's Qantas Ashes Tour of the UK would be the first matches played.

The Women's World T20 final between Australia and England will be played in Antigua from 11am AEDT Sunday, and will be broadcast on Fox Cricket and 9GEM.