LAHORE, Pakistan, (Reuters) – Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chairman Ehsan Mani has said the logistical challenge of keeping 16 teams in a bio-secure bubble to limit the risk of COVID-19 makes staging the Twenty20 World Cup in Australia this year “impossible”.
The governing International Cricket Council (ICC) is exploring contingency plans but has deferred a decision on the tournament until July.
While Australia has slowed novel coronavirus infections to a trickle, Cricket Australia chairman Earl Eddings said on Tuesday any expectations that the tournament would go ahead as planned in October-November were “unrealistic”.
Mani, an ICC board member, said in a virtual media briefing on Wednesday that the Australian government was still being “very cautious” about the COVID-19 risk.
Mani expected the tournament to be rescheduled to 2021, with the edition scheduled for next year in India moved to 2022.
