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Mehluli Sibanda, Senior Sports Reporter

ZIMBABWE is among 17 International Cricket Council (ICC) member countries that are bidding to host the ICC white-ball events post 2023.

Yesterday, the ICC said following the expansion of its event programme in the next cycle, it had commenced the process of identifying the hosts for men’s white-ball events to be held post 2023.

Hosting of the ICC World Test Championship final, the ICC women’s and Under-19 events in the new cycle will be determined in a separate process that will get underway later this year.

Eight men’s ODI and T20 events, comprising two ICC Men’s Cricket World Cups, four ICC Men’s T20 World Cups and two ICC Champions Trophies, will be staged between 2024 and 2031, and ICC members were invited to submit a preliminary technical proposal as a potential host.

This included individual country submissions as well as joint proposals.

According to the ICC, initial submissions have been received from Australia, Bangladesh, England, India, Ireland, Malaysia, Namibia, New Zealand, Oman, Pakistan, Scotland, South Africa, Sri Lanka, West Indies, United Arab Emirates, United States of America and Zimbabwe.

ICC acting chief executive Geoff Allardice expressed delight at the response from member countries showing interest in hosting events beyond 2023, which gives the global cricket governing body an opportunity to grow interest in the game worldwide.

“We are delighted with the response from our members to hosting ICC men’s white-ball events post 2023. This process gives us an opportunity to extend our range of hosts and grow interest in cricket worldwide, reaching more fans while creating a long-term legacy for the sport.

“Cricket has more than a billion fans around the world and ICC events have a proven track record of bringing significant economic and social benefits for host counties. These events provide hosts with a wonderful opportunity to work closely with local communities to grow the game whilst supporting economic and social development public policy goals,” Allardice said.

Next up is the process where members will be asked to provide more elaborate proposals prior to the ICC board making decisions on which countries get to host events.

“We will now move forward to the second phase of the process where members will provide a more detailed proposal before the ICC board takes decisions on our future hosts later this year,” he said.

Zimbabwe is the confirmed host nation for the 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier to be held from June 18 to July 9, 2023.

From the qualifier, the best two countries will join host nation India plus seven others in terms of the ICC Super League rankings in the Cricket World Cup to be held in November 2023.

Initially, the 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup was meant to take place from February 9 to March 26, but will now take place in November due to the coronavirus pandemic. — @Mdawini_29