Los Angeles Olympics 2028 is all set to welcome back cricket in the quadrennial games for the first time since 1900, but it would be a six-team event only. The limited number of spots means that not all the top cricket playing nations might be able to make the cut. The International Cricket Council (ICC), while yet to announce a formal process to pick out the teams, met in Singapore recently and almost but decided on five of six spots via regional qualifiers. The process proposed hasn’t gone down well with a couple of nations.
According to the UK-based news outlet The Guardian, the regional qualifiers mean that highest ranking team in each continent, that is Europe, Asia, Oceania, Africa and Americas, will play in the LA 28 games. This means India from Asia, Australia from Oceania, Great Britain from Europe and South Africa from Africa will get a spot based on T20 ranking – leaving Pakistan and New Zealand out which have already expressed discontent about the process.
The USA is expected to get a spot from Americas given they are the host and that could endanger chances of West Indies. The spot could go to Caribbean if the USA cricket boards fails to resign in time as demanded by the ICC owing to their governance issues. The process to fill the last spot is yet to shared by the apex cricket council. As for women’s teams, the qualification will be determined by the standings in T20 World Cup next year which gives England an edge being the host.
If cricket becomes successful as an event in Olympics, the ICC may pursue for a bigger tournament in Brisbane 2032 games. Also, the game could get further boost in Olympics if Ahmedabad (India) manages to win 2036 games bid to host.