Twenty20 World Cup under threat as host Australia says schedule ‘very high risk’

But the ICC has rejected claims the tournament will be postponed, insisting a number of contingency plans are being considered.

The Twenty20 World Cup may not go ahead as the leader of the game in host nation Australia revealed the schedule for October and November is under a “very high risk”.

Australia has announced its schedule for its international season, including a full tour from India and an inaugural Test against Afghanistan, though October’s Twenty20 World Cup appears likely to be postponed.

Cricket Australia (CA) boss Kevin Roberts indicated as much in a video call with reporters, saying “obviously, we’ve been hopeful all along that it could be staged in October-November but you would have to say there is a very high risk about the prospect of that happening”.

He added: “In the event that that doesn’t happen, there are potential windows in the February-March period, October-November the following year.

“And there’s implications here for the (International Cricket Council) over a number of years. So there’s a lot of complexity for the ICC to deal with.”

It comes less than a day after the ICC rejected claims the tournament will be postponed, insisting a number of contingency plans are being considered in light of the impact of Covid-19.