The USA are poised to bid to host a major global cricket tournament for the first time. The US are in advanced talks with the West Indies to bid to co-host the Twenty20 World Cup during the 2023-31 cycle of International Cricket Council events.

There are currently planned to be two men’s T20 World Cups, most likely in 2026 and 2030, during the next cycle. The US and West Indies are actively exploring the possibility of staging one of these two events jointly and plan to make a formal declaration of their interest to the ICC.

If the US did co-host the competition, it would be a hugely significant moment for the sport. While a sprinkling of World Cup matches have been played outside Full Member nations in the past, no Associate nation has ever staged more than two games in a World Cup or been an official designated host.

It is envisaged the US would be equal partners in a joint bid with the West Indies, hosting in the region of half the games in the T20 World Cup. This would give USA Cricket, the governing body in the US, and the ICC a window to help cricket gain a larger foothold in the country.

The US co-hosting the T20 World Cup would mark a radical shift from global events in previous years, which have been concentrated in the sport’s biggest markets. All six global events in the 2015-23 cycle are being staged in Australia, England or India.

The ICC have introduced a new bidding process for global events, which is designed to introduce more transparency to the process and encourage more members to bid. In total there are currently planned to be 16 global events - eight men’s and eight women’s - from 2023-31.

Submissions of interest for events in the cycle were originally requested by mid-March, but this has not been postponed to the end of the month due to disruption called by the coronavirus.

A formal bidding process is planned to launch after the ICC board meetings at the end of this month, currently planned to be held via conference call. After this, all ICC members would have around six months to make their formal submissions of bids. Decisions on the host nations for the 2023-31 cycle could potentially be made by the end of the year.

The US and West Indies boards have developed a warm relationship in recent years. The West Indies have staged a number of T20 games in Florida in recent years, with some Caribbean Premier League games also played there. The US men’s national team have also taken part in the West Indies’s domestic 50-over tournament.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar taking the wicket of Evin Lewis in Lauderhill, Florida credit: AP

For the US, hosting an ICC event was an ambition laid out in their annual general meeting last month. A joint bid with the West Indies would reduce the perceived risk of staging a tournament in the country, as well as placing less demand on venues. Currently, the only ICC ODI-certified stadium is the Central Broward Regional Park in Florida, though a venue in North Carolina has staged T20 internationals and would also be a likely option to host T20 World Cup games.

The West Indies have not staged a men’s global event since the 2010 edition of the T20 World Cup, and would have a strong case to argue that their time to host the men’s T20 World Cup has come again, especially given their rich history in the competition. The West Indies are the current holders of the T20 World Cup and are the only team to have won the tournament twice.

A US-West Indies bid would have to be seen as part of long-term attempts to grow the sport in the USA. In the short-term it would be unlikely to generate as much money as other potential hosts, partly because the time difference is far from ideal for Indian viewers.

But the final decision on hosts - likely to be made by an independent panel assessing bids who will then take recommendations to the ICC board - is likely to include consideration of the long-term benefits for the sport from prospective bids. This suggests that the final distribution of the 16 ICC events in the cycle may be balanced between the game’s biggest markets - above all India and England - and emerging nations.