By Matt Hughes for Mailonline
15:53 December 19, 2023, updated 16:55 December 19, 2023
- The World T20 will be held from June 14 to June 30 in the Caribbean and the United States
- FIFA is expected to release the tournament schedule later this week
- 10 teams will start in the United States, while the other 10 teams will start in the Caribbean
The opening match of next year’s T20 World Cup will be a meeting between minor league cricket teams the United States and Canada in America.
The fixtures are due to be released later this week, and the ICC has chosen to start the tournament with a rare North American derby rather than a match featuring World Cup holders England or global giants India.
The surprise decision is a nod to the fact that the first ever international cricket match was a match between the United States and Canada in Manhattan in 1844, 33 years before the first Test between England and Australia in Melbourne, a clash that led to the birth of the Ashes team. Five years later.
In the previous contest billed at the time as the United States of America versus the Canadian Province of the British Empire, the visitors won a two-round, three-day match by 23 runs.
In addition to the historical connection, the ICC is also seeking to launch the tournament in the USA, which is co-hosting the tournament with the West Indies.
10 of the 20 competing teams will play their first match in the USA at venues in Texas, Florida and New York, while the other 10 teams will start in the West Indies, which will host all of the final stages including the Super 8 round and the semi-finals. And the final.
All of England’s group stage matches will be in tourist areas in the Caribbean such as Antigua, Saint Lucia and Barbados, which will also host the final.
Three of India’s matches will be played in the USA, with the biggest match of the tournament against Pakistan taking place at a yet-to-be-built temporary stadium on Long Island, 25 miles from Manhattan.
The Indian Games are scheduled to start at 9:30 am local time at the request of Star Sports, the ICC’s broadcast rights partner, in order to garner as many TV viewers as possible at home.
The International Criminal Court declined to comment.