ICC Receive Go-Ahead To Increase Twenty20 WC Teams

ICC chief executive Haroon Lorgat has announced that The International Cricket Council (ICC) is implementing plans to increase the 2014 Twenty20 World Cup from 12 to 16 teams.

Originally, the proposal was put forward at last month’s Chief Executives’ Committee (CEC) meeting, which has now been approved by the ICC’s executive board at a meeting on Monday. The move will be implemented for Bangladesh’s staging of the competition and will see the ICC’s 10 full members joined by six qualifying nations. The expansion is also being seen as a method to grant more opportunities of top-level competition to cricket’s non-Test playing nations.

“What excites me is the decision to extend the World Twenty20 event, which takes place in 2014 in Bangladesh,” said ICC chief executive Haroon Lorgat, according to Reuters. “From then onwards the board has decided to expand the event to 16 teams. I’m sure that is very comforting to all associates and affiliates… it provides them with a greater chance of competing on the global stage.”

The ICC has also approved the overhaul of its top-level administration, which will lead to the creation of a powerful chairman’s position with the president’s role being transformed into a purely ceremonial one. The board-appointed chairman will lead the ICC in future with the vice-president position being scrapped. Lorgat himself is set to leave his position following the ICC’s annual conference in June, with the Council adding that four candidates have been shortlisted to replace him.