MCG to host men’s and women’s World T20 final with Canberra and Geelong to also host matches
MELBOURNE will host the men’s and women’s 2020 World T20 final as the eight host cities for the tournament are announced, including Canberra and Geelong.
Cricket
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MELBOURNE has further enhanced its reputation as the sporting capital of the world as it gets set to host the men’s and women’s finals of the World T20 in 2020.
One of cricket’s flagship events, the women’s tournament will be held in February and March, 2020 with the men to follow in October-November.
The MCG will host the final as it did with the 2015 Cricket World Cup, won by Australia.
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Sydney will host both women’s semi-finals while the SCG and Adelaide Oval will host the men’s semi-final matches.
Australian captain Steve Smith said he was “already looking forward to 2020” after the success of the 2015 World Cup, which also included an MCG final.
“Thinking back to 2015, the World Cup here in Australia, just the support that we had for those six weeks was something incredible,” Smith said.
Regional centre Geelong has surprisingly snared men’s hosting duties as have Brisbane, Canberra, Hobart and Perth.
Victoria Premier Daniel Andrews described it as a “very exciting” coup for not just Melbourne but also Geelong, with estimates that the tournament’s will reach a global audience of over 1.5 billion people.
“When you think about the most recent Boxing Day Test, some 250,000 people attended that Test match,” Mr Andrews said.
“Our World Cup history most recently, I think we did Victoria and indeed Australia proud and we again, in hosting those finals, put on a real festival of cricket as well as allow people from the world over to experience our great city.”
Brisbane’s Allan Border Field and Adelaide’s Gladys Elphick Park will host women’s warm-up matches.
Canberra’s Manuka Oval, Melbourne’s Junction Oval and the WACA in Perth will host group stage games with the SCG to host group games and the two semi-finals.
The women’s final will be held on March 8, which is also International Women’s Day.
Organisers have targeted setting a new attendance world record for a women’s sporting event.
“I’ve been in the crowd watching people play out there in front of 90,000 people and potentially the opportunity to be out there in the middle for that is really exciting,” Australia women’s captain Meg Lanning said.
The West Indies are reigning champions in both men’s and women’s.
The world’s 10 best women’s teams and 16 men’s teams vie for the title.
International Cricket Council chief executive David Richardson said few places were better suited to hosting the World T20.
Two 🇦🇺 skippers at the #WT20 2020 finals venue! pic.twitter.com/fXjHQKcSIX
— cricket.com.au (@CricketAus) January 30, 2018
“Australia has a proven track record of delivering world-class events in world-class stadiums and we know we can rely on the fans to provide great support for all of the competing teams,” he said.
Cricket Australia and World T20 organising committee chairman David Peever said it was an honour to be hosting the events
“Australia is extremely privileged to be hosting the ICC World T20 tournaments in 2020,” he said.
The full fixture is yet to be released.
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