New Delhi: The International Cricket Council (ICC) on Monday announced the postponement of this year’s Men’s T20 World Cup in Australia due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

The T20 World Cup was slated to be played in Australia from October 18 to November 15 this year.

ICC said that at Monday’s meeting of the IBC Board (the commercial subsidiary of the ICC), windows for the next three ICC men’s events were also agreed to bring clarity to the calendar and give the sport the “best possible opportunity” over the next three years to recover from the disruption caused by COVID-19.

The windows for the Men’s events are:

ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2021 will be held October – November 2021 with the final on 14 November 2021;

ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2022 will be held October – November 2022 with the final on 13 November 2022;

ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023 will be held in India October – November 2023 with the final on 26 November 2023.

“The IBC Board agreed to continue to monitor the rapidly changing situation and assess all the information available in order to make a considered decision on future hosts to ensure the sport is able to stage safe and successful global events in 2021 and 2022,” ICC said in a statement.

“The IBC Board will also continue to evaluate the situation in relation to being able to stage the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2021 in New Zealand in February next year. In the meantime, planning for this event continues as scheduled,” the statement added.

ICC Chief Executive Manu Sawhney said their number one priority was to protect the health and safety of everyone involved in the sport.

“We have undertaken a comprehensive and complex contingency planning exercise and through this process, our number one priority has been to protect the health and safety of everyone involved in the sport. The decision to postpone the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup was taken after careful consideration of all of the options available to us and gives us the best possible opportunity of delivering two safe and successful T20 World Cups for fans around the world.

ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2021 will be held October –Nov 2021 with the final on 14 Nov 2021.ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2022 will be held Oct –Nov 2022 with the final on 13 Nov 2022. ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023 will be held in India Oct-Nov 2023 with the final on 26 Nov: ICC

— ANI (@ANI) July 20, 2020

“Our Members now have the clarity they need around event windows to enable them to reschedule lost bilateral and domestic cricket. Moving the Men’s Cricket World Cup to a later window is a critical element of this and gives us a better chance of maintaining the integrity of the qualification process. This additional time will be used to reschedule games that might be lost because of the pandemic ensuring qualification can be decided on the field of play,” he added.

Sawhney further stated that they worked closely with their key stakeholders which enabled them to reach a “collective decision”.

“Throughout this process we have worked closely with our key stakeholders including governments, Members, broadcasters, partners and medical experts to enable us to reach a collective decision for the good of the game and our fans. I would like to thank everyone involved for their commitment to a safe return to cricket,” he said. (ANI)