WTC 2022 finals to be held at Lord’s Cricket Stadium
Due to the finals in 2023 and 2025 being played in June, which coincides with the English season, Lord’s is the preferred location.
The ICC has decided that Lord’s will host the 2023 and 2025 World Test Championship finals. The choice was agreed during the ICC’s Annual General Meeting, which ended on Tuesday in Birmingham. In the first WTC final, which took place in Southampton in 2021, New Zealand defeated India in four days. That game had been slated at Lord’s as well, but due to Covid-19 limitations in effect at the time, it had to be moved to the Ageas Bowl.
The WTC final is slated for June in both 2023 and 2025, according to ICC head Greg Barclay, who stated that Lord’s was the favoured option in an interview with BBC’s Test Match Special earlier in the season. We need to establish the location with confidence because it will be held in June, which eliminates a lot of other potential locations, according to Barclay. “Subject to arrangements being completed and being able to be hosted out of Lord’s, I suppose that’s the idea,” said the speaker after leaving Covid.
The WTC has nine Full Members and runs on a two-year cycle (all but Ireland, Zimbabwe, and Afghanistan). Six series are played, three at home and three away, for each nation. Several teams are still contending for a position in the 2023 championship during the current WTC cycle.
In the meantime, Ganguly’s ICC Men’s Cricket Committee now includes former New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori and former India batter VVS Laxman. Laxman and Vettori were added to the committee as current player representatives, and Roger Harper, a former West Indies all-rounder, was appointed as a past player representative.
Election procedure for the ICC chairman changed
A modification to the procedure for choosing the next board chair was also agreed by the ICC Board. This election, which is scheduled for November 2022, will now be determined by a simple majority rather than the previous system’s two-thirds majority, which resulted in a drawn-out and contentious process. Barclay was elected to the position, and it is anticipated that he will run for re-election. The following chairperson will serve from December 1, 2022, until November 30, 2024.
ICC is still keeping an eye on Afghanistan’s cricket.
The ICC working group provided the ICC Board with an update on the country’s condition, with a focus on women’s cricket, as well as members from the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB). In order to advance the situation, ICC representatives hope to meet with ACB and government authorities in the upcoming weeks, according to an ICC release.
At the AGM, new members Cambodia, Cote D’Ivoire, and Uzbekistan were granted Associate membership status; however, Ukraine’s application has been postponed until the country can continue cricket securely. The Ukraine Cricket Federation has already been asked to demonstrate that it satisfies a few requirements of the Membership criteria, including the existence of a women’s cricket route and a functioning administrative structure. The country’s cricket activities have been suspended due to the ongoing Russian invasion.
The International Criminal Court currently has 108 Members in total, including 96 Associates, with the admission of Cambodia, Cote d’Ivoire, and Uzbekistan.
Cricket Russia’s membership has been revoked in the interim. Due to ongoing non-compliance on a number of criteria related to the board’s governance since July 2019, the board was suspended at the AGM last year.
