Australia and New Zealand will host the ICC World Twenty20 tournament in 2020.

International Cricket Council chief executive David Richardson, speaking four days before the World Cup starts in Melbourne, confirmed the T20 event will be based in Australia for the first time.

"It's an honour to be hosting a global event on behalf of the ICC," Cricket Australia boss James Sutherland said, sitting alongside Richardson at Tuesday's press conference.

"We haven't cast our minds that far ahead yet, 2020 seems like a long way away.

"We'll focus our attention on that after this tournament."

It has been 23 years since the two nations hosted a major cricket event, the 1992 World Cup.

Richardson, who represented South Africa in that tournament, lamented the long wait.

"We'd like to come back to Australia and New Zealand more often," he said.

"The fact is the time zone for this part of the world, relative to the rest of the cricket playing world, is not ideal.

"But what makes it special is the tournaments have come few and far between, which adds to the excitement and the level of anticipation for this event."

AAP