USA and West Indies might co-host 2018 Women's World Twenty20
The 2018 edition of the ICC Women's World Twenty20 might be played in the United States bringing the prospects of organising an ICC global event in America for the first time. The tournament has originally been awarded to West Indies and CWI are planning to arrange some matches in Florida.
"It's something that we're looking to do for sure. In the Americas there's a lack of women's cricket - we have the USA team but we need to develop cricket, so having women's cricket (event) featuring here as co-hosts would be massive kudos for ICC Americas and also for cricket in general for women", told Fara Gorsi, the ICC Americas development manager to Cricbuzz.
The odds are more than 50% in the favour of the ICC global event being held in America, next November. There is a probability of the matches being held at the Lauderhill ground in Florida. the very ground which hosted Caribbean Premier League matches in the last two years as well as men's internationals in 2016 and has been internationally recognized, having the sufficient amenities to hold the World T20 matches.
The chief executive of Cricket Windies (CWI) Johnny Grave is interested in exploring the option and his approval is necessary for hosting the T20 matches in the US.
"It's the first time I've been here and why not? It's not too far off the Caribbean Sea. It could be the perfect timing for a new association in the USA to really kick-start cricket in the USA so I wouldn't want to rule it out. It's not been officially spoken about at the high end but I'd certainly be very open-minded in exploring it," said Grave.
However, it cannot take place without the support of ICC Americas. The former governing body for the sport in the US, USACA was debarred from the ICC in June. As a result, the ICC is the momentary custodian of American cricket and will sanction all official matches staged in the country, until any further developments.
The West Indies proposes the idea of the World T20 to be hosted across three different nations and looks forward to receiving offers from territories to stage matches from late September.
"Obstacles? At this point in time, I couldn't see any. As we've hosted the CPL and T20Is here, it's not that the venue would be a problem. It's logistically how the host countries work together to make this possible. As the ICC Americas development manager it'd be something that I would be very keen to get involved to make sure it does happen," said Fara Gorsi.
"I would like to think it was a well over 50% chance of us hosting it here. But this is being ambitious and what I'd like to see," she added.
Probably, around four to six matches of the 23-game event may perhaps be staged in Lauderhill. The ICC has held the belief that the women's game puts forward the best prospect of the US reaching a world event.
"We have to get women's cricket over in the Americas at the level it's being played in other regions at the moment. We need to utilise the stage of women's cricket, from what the girls did at Lord's, over in the US so the whole of the Americas can see that it is possible, and we can have a women's team grow and more girls getting involved in women's cricket at a local level as well,"
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