International Cricket Council confirms intent for cricket to enter Olympics at LA 2028

Lachlan McKirdy

International Cricket Council confirms intent for cricket to enter Olympics at LA 2028 image

The International Cricket Council (ICC) has confirmed it intends to pitch cricket as an Olympic sport beginning from LA 2028.

Cricket is the second sport in a matter of days to express their desire to become a part of the Olympics. 

On Monday, Netball Australia confirmed that they would be starting a dialogue with the International and Australian Olympic Committees around entering the Olympics for Brisbane 2032. 

But cricket is attempting to one-up netball by announcing their plans to join the Olympics for Los Angeles 2028, in seven years time. 

The ICC has created a working group to put together a bid for the IOC to assess their plans for LA 2028 as well as Brisbane 2032 and Games after that. 

It's clear the ICC has been swept up by the spirit of the Olympics on the back of Tokyo 2020 with ICC Chair Greg Barclay commenting on just how much the Games "captured the imagination of the world". 

"Firstly on behalf of everyone at the ICC, I would like to congratulate the IOC, Tokyo 2020 and the people of Japan for staging such an incredible Games in such difficult circumstances," Barclay said.

"It truly was fantastic to watch and captured the imagination of the world and we would love for cricket to be a part of future Games.

“Our sport is united behind this bid, and we see the Olympics as a part of cricket’s long-term future. We have more than a billion fans globally and almost 90 per cent of them want to see cricket at the Olympics.
 
“Clearly cricket has a strong and passionate fanbase, particularly in South Asia where 92% of our fans come from, whilst there are also 30 million cricket fans in the USA. The opportunity for those fans to see their heroes competing for an Olympic medal is tantalising.

“We believe cricket would be a great addition to the Olympic Games, but we know it won’t be easy to secure our inclusion as there are so many other great sports out there wanting to do the same. But we feel now is the time to put our best foot forward and show what a great partnership cricket and the Olympics could be.”

One hurdle that has been presented for netball's inclusion at the Olympics has been the perceived lack of gender balance in the sport. 

While netball has a growing male participation rate, it's a problem that is unlikely to impact cricket's bid. 

The growth of the women's game in cricket has been heavily celebrated around the world and we will even see it make its debut at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham. 

The Commonwealth Games format in 2022 will see eight women's teams compete in a T20 tournament with two groups of four that lead into semifinals and a final.

It's likely any bid for the Olympic Games would follow a similar format but with men's and women's teams. 

At the time of cricket's announcement into the Commonwealth Games, the Marylebone Cricket Club hoped that the move would help the sport's introduction into the Olympics at LA 2028. 

Almost two years later and the ICC has now made that progression. 

An issue that could impact cricket being a successful Olympic sport is an already packed international schedule. 

In their road map for the next decade, the ICC has already confirmed that a men's and women's T20 World Cup will take place in 2028. 

If cricket is successful in its bid to join the Olympics, there is a chance that the ICC may have to re-think their schedule otherwise the significance of the sport being played at LA 2028 could be diminished. 

The ICC's Olympic working group will be led by the ECB's Ian Watmore. He will be joined on the panel by ICC Independent Director Indra Nooyi, Chair of Zimbabwe Cricket Tavengwa Mukuhlani, ICC Associate Member Director and Vice President of the Asian Cricket Council Mahinda Vallipuram and Chair of USA Cricket Paraag Marathe.

One thing that has been made clear is the ICC"s intent to grow the sport in America and Marathe believes an Olympic debut at LA 2028 will help turn cricket into a mainstream sport in the USA. 

“USA Cricket is thrilled to be able to support cricket’s bid for inclusion in the Olympics, the timing of which aligns perfectly with our continuing plans to develop the sport in the USA," said Paraag Marathe.

"With so many passionate cricket fans and players already in the USA, and a huge global audience and following for the sport around the world, we believe that cricket’s inclusion will add great value to the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games and help us to achieve our own vision for establishing cricket as a mainstream sport in this country.”

Lachlan McKirdy

Lachlan McKirdy Photo