Cricket is set to have a new global tournament with the creation of a Twenty20 "World Championship."
At a board meeting of the International Cricket Council (ICC) at the governing body's Dubai headquarters, officials agreed to the creation of an "invitational" Twenty20 World Championship next year with an event in 2009 where "participation will be mandatory," according to an ICC statement.
Explaining the two-stage introduction, the ICC said: "Several members are strongly in favor of including a Twenty20 World Championship in the next round of ICC events while other members are not as enthusiastic."
Pioneered three years ago in the professional game at county level in England, Twenty20 -- whose name derives from the fact that a match is made up of just 20 overs per side -- has drawn large crowds around the world.
But concerns have been expressed that an expansion of Twenty20 could threaten the standing of the World Cup, cricket's leading one-day international tournament, which is currently staged once every four years and whose next edition is set to take place in the Caribbean next year.
Cricket economic powerhouse India was known to be particularly sceptical about Twenty20.
But with India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh keen to stage the 50-overs-per-side World Cup in 2011, a compromise deal has been struck.
The Asian quartet have seen the deadline for submitting a 2011 World Cup bid extended to April 21 -- even though Australia and New Zealand have already made a joint bid to stage that event -- while England have made it clear they would like to stage the first compulsory Twenty20 World Championship in 2009.
RSS