India’s game against Pakistan in a pop-up stadium on the outskirts of New York will be the showpiece occasion of the first group stage of next year’s T20 World Cup, with the full schedule due to be signed off by the International Cricket Council and local organising committees today.
Those countries will be among 10 teams who play all their opening group-stage games in the USA, who are co-hosting the tournament with the West Indies, as organisers hope to tap in to America’s large, cricket-loving expat communities.
Some changes to the schedule are still possible, but England and Australia will play all their group games in the Caribbean. It is understood that England’s games both in their initial, five-team group and, should they qualify from that, in the Super 8 round will all be in the British tourist hotspots of Antigua, Barbados and St Lucia, but the Australians will visit some of the region’s other venues, in St Vincent, Guyana and Trinidad.
ICC inspectors have been visiting the Caribbean venues over the last fortnight, finishing in Guyana this week, and though they found that some improvement and expansion is still necessary they have uncovered no significant issues. The venue for the final has not been confirmed but it is likely to be in Barbados, which has previously hosted the finals of the 2007 50-over World Cup and the 2010 T20 event.
America have confirmed that they will use just three venues, Central Broward Park in Florida, Grand Prairie Stadium in Texas and Eisenhower Park on Long Island, about 25 miles from downtown Manhattan. The first two are dedicated cricket grounds, while a temporary, 34,000-seat stadium will be constructed for the tournament in New York, which has some 711,000 Indian residents and about 100,000 people of Pakistani origin according to the latest census data.
There is a 10-and-a-half-hour time difference between New York and New Delhi and organisers have agreed to schedule some games, particularly those involving India, with morning starts to better serve Indian television audiences.
England are defending champions having won the 2022 T20 World Cup in Australia, beating Pakistan in the final. They are currently on a white-ball tour of the West Indies and have played in both Antigua and Barbados, giving them a useful insight into conditions they will face when they return in June. They have not played in St Lucia since 2019.
