2024 Men's T20 World Cup

The 2024 ICC Men's T20 World Cup was the ninth edition of the ICC Men's T20 World Cup, co-hosted by Cricket West Indies and USA Cricket from 1 to 29 June 2024. It was the first major ICC tournament to include matches played in the United States. The West Indies had previously hosted the 2010 competition. A total of twenty teams competed in 55 matches across six venues in the West Indies, and three in the United States with a total attendance of 190,000 in those three venues.

The number of participants was increased from sixteen to twenty teams, which included teams from the two hosts, the top eight teams from the 2022 edition, the two highest-ranked teams in the ICC Men's T20I Team Rankings not already qualified, and eight other teams determined through regional qualifiers. Canada and Uganda qualified for the men's T20 World Cup for the first time; and the United States participated for the first time by virtue of being co-hosts.

England were the defending champions and were beaten in the semi-finals by India, who went on to win their second T20 World Cup title, defeating South Africa by seven runs in the final. India won all their matches, and were the first team to win a T20 World Cup while undefeated. They joined England and West Indies as the only teams to win the title twice.

Background

The ICC Men's T20 World Cup is a biennial world cup for cricket in Twenty20 International (T20I) format, organised by the International Cricket Council (ICC). It was first played in 2007 in South Africa, and the 2024 tournament marked its ninth edition. The eighth edition, held in 2022 in Australia, was contested by 16 teams, and was won by England who defeated Pakistan in the final.

Host selection

In November 2021, as part of the 2024–2031 ICC men's hosts cycle, the ICC announced that the 2024 Men's T20 World Cup would be played in the West Indies and the United States. A joint bid had been submitted by Cricket West Indies and USA Cricket following two years of preparation, and as part of a strategic partnership between the two associations.

USA Cricket's co-hosting was part of efforts to help develop and promote cricket in the United States, where the sport's fanbase largely consists of South Asian diaspora. Prior to this World Cup, the United States had occasionally hosted West Indies home matches at Central Broward Park in Florida, while a T20 franchise league known as Major League Cricket launched in 2023.

The United States is associated with several notable developments in the early history of the game, including hosting Canada in the first international cricket match, and American cricketer Bart King being credited with the development of swing bowling.

Format

The 20 qualifying teams were divided into four groups of five each. In the group stage, each team played four matches against one another in a round-robin; the top two teams in each group advanced to the Super 8 stage, where they were placed into two groups of four teams each, and played three matches against one another. The top two teams in each group advanced to the knockout stage.

Prior to the tournament, the ICC announced the eight seeded teams for the Super 8 stage based on their T20I rankings ahead of the tournament. After advancing from the group stage, the teams were placed in predetermined positions in the Super 8 stage, irrespective of their position in the group stage. If an unseeded team qualified at the expense of a seeded team, it took the position of the corresponding seeded team that failed to qualify from their group.

Schedule

June 2024 was allocated to the tournament on the 2023–2027 ICC Men's Future Tours Programme. On 28 July 2023, ESPNcricinfo reported that the tournament would be played from 4 to 30 June 2024. The finalized schedule was announced on 5 January 2024, with the tournament scheduled to take place from 1 to 29 June. The teams played 55 matches with three cities in the United States hosting 12 matches and the rest of the matches hosted at six venues in the Caribbean. On 16 May 2024, the ICC announced that warm-up fixtures would be held from 27 May to 1 June.

Prize money

The ICC allocated a pool of $11.25 million in prize money for the tournament. The winners would be given at least $2.45 million, the highest prize money in the history of the tournament. Moreover, each team would receive an additional $31,154 for each match they won, excluding the semi-finals and final.

Marketing

The ICC hosted a trophy tour, before the tournament, which began on 19 March in New York, and the trophy was taken to various locations around the world. Former cricketers Yuvraj Singh, Chris Gayle and Shahid Afridi, as well as Olympic athlete Usain Bolt, were named as the ambassadors of the tournament. The official theme song for the tournament, "Out of This World", produced by Tano and performed by Sean Paul and Kes, was released on 2 May 2024 under the Ineffable Records label. The song has three remix versions.

Qualification

The hosts, the West Indies and the United States, along with the top eight teams from the 2022 tournament, automatically qualified for the tournament. The remaining two automatic qualification places were taken by the best-ranked teams in the ICC Men's T20I Team Rankings, which had not already qualified as of 14 November 2022. The eight remaining places were filled via the ICC's regional qualifiers, consisting of two teams from Africa, Asia, and Europe and one team each from the Americas and the East Asia-Pacific groups. In May 2022, the ICC confirmed the sub-regional qualification pathways for Europe, East Asia-Pacific, and Africa.

In July 2023, Ireland and Scotland qualified from the Europe Qualifier, followed by Papua New Guinea from the East Asia-Pacific Qualifier. Canada secured its qualification in October 2023 after winning the Americas Qualifier. The following month, Nepal and Oman qualified by reaching the final of the Asia Qualifier in Nepal. Namibia and Uganda became the final two teams to qualify after being assured of a top-two finish in the Africa Qualifier, with Zimbabwe becoming the only Test-playing country that failed to qualify for the World Cup. Canada and Uganda qualified for the men's T20 World Cup for the first time, while the United States also participated for the first time by virtue of being co-host.

Venues

In May 2023, Cricket West Indies (CWI) began a bidding process for countries in the Caribbean region willing to host the matches of the World Cup. In July 2023, the ICC shortlisted four venues to host World Cup matches in the United States: Central Broward Park in Lauderhill, Florida; Church Street Park in Morrisville, North Carolina; Grand Prairie Stadium in Grand Prairie, Texas; and a temporary stadium at Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx, New York City. Residents of the Bronx objected to the Van Cortlandt Park stadium, citing that it would restrict public access to the park for an extended time, expressing concerns for its environmental impact, and questioning the economic viability of the event. On 20 September 2023, the ICC announced that Grand Prairie, Lauderhill, and New York would be the three U.S. host cities, with a 34,000-seat temporary stadium to be constructed at Eisenhower Park on Long Island in Nassau County, New York. Central Broward Park and Grand Prairie Stadium were to be expanded, with temporary grandstands and hospitality areas doubling their capacity during the tournament.

On 22 September 2023, the ICC announced that Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Guyana, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and Trinidad and Tobago would be the locations of venues in the West Indies.Grenada, Jamaica, and Saint Kitts and Nevis did not submit bids to host the World Cup, with Jamaican sports minister Olivia Grange ruling out a bid on cost grounds. In November 2023, it was announced that Trinidad's Queen's Park Oval, the country's primary cricket venue, would not be hosting any World Cup matches and that fixtures would be moved to the Brian Lara Cricket Academy in San Fernando. Nigel Camacho, the president of the Queen's Park Cricket Club, stated that the venue would instead most likely host warm-up matches before the start of the main tournament. The Government of Dominica decided to withdraw its venue, Windsor Park, citing its inability to complete the infrastructural development of the venue before the tournament commenced.

In December 2023, a delegation of representatives from the ICC undertook an inspection of the confirmed host venues in the Caribbean and the United States, intending to finalise the fixtures for the tournament. The New York stadium was slated to host the India–Pakistan group stage match, which was considered one of the sport's strongest rivalries. On 17 January 2024, the ICC unveiled the proposed design of the temporary New York stadium—Nassau County International Cricket Stadium—which was completed in May 2024, in time for the tournament. It marked the first temporary venue to have ever been used during an ICC World Cup.