Cricket will be at the 2028 Olympics, but how what will that look like?
The sport was confirmed as one of five new events for the 2028 Los Angeles Games, and is set to be played as a six-team T20 tournament for the men and women, pending confirmation on the format.
As the host nation, the USA – a minnow in the cricket world – will play in the competition, leaving five sides to fight it out for spots in the Games. Cricket will also be played at the 2032 Brisbane Olympics.
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Cricket Australia boss Nick Hockley described the announcement as a “game-changer for our sport”, but is Australia even guaranteed to play?
Upon announcing cricket’s inclusion, the International Olympic Committee stated the format and qualification process will be revealed at a later date.
Former Australian captain Mark Taylor believes the International Cricket Committee will need to take drastic action to ensure the best sides are on the park, fighting for a gold medal.
“I think it’s a great opportunity to grow the game of cricket worldwide, so I’m for that – I’ve said before on this that now it is going to happen I’d like to see the T20 World Cup not played in the cycle,” he told Wide World of Sports.
“I would drop it for 2028 and have the pinnacle for T20 cricket for the era between 2026 and 2032 as the gold medal.
“One thing like most sport lovers, I love watching the Olympics, I want to see the best there, I want it to be something that players or competitors over four years are really gearing up for, to win that gold medal.”
If the ICC were to make the change, it’d have a major ripple effect for host nations with the tournament locked in until 2030.
The 2024 World Cup will be hosted by the USA and West Indies, 2026 is at India and Sri Lanka while Australia and New Zealand are locked in for 2028.
2030 is set to be in England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland.
Cricket was played at the Commonwealth Games in 1998 in Kuala Lumpur, with Australia losing to South Africa in the gold medal match.
Australia won the gold medal in the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games in a women-only tournament.
Taylor, who missed out on the 1998 games are finishing in the one-day arena in 1997, wants a different level of commitment compared to that occasion.
“If I use the 1998 Commonwealth Games as an example, Australia we pretty well sent our best team, as did South Africa, but a lot of sides didn’t because the Commonwealth Games gold medal in one-day cricket, rightfully wasn’t the pinnacle of the one-day game at the time,” he said.
“You don’t want that. I’d love to see the gold medal for T20 cricket be the pinnacle of the sport and I’d like to see the teams that make it through the qualifying, I’d like to see their best squad play in 2028.”
With no information provided on the qualifying process, Taylor believes there’ll be an Olympic qualifiers tournament to separate the best six from the rest. The 58-year-old can see that putting a “squeeze” on other formats.
“The added pressure this will add to one-day cricket, if all these things happen, there’s no doubt it’s going to be every nation that’ll want to be at that Olympics in 2028, with their best T20 side,” he said.
“That will put the squeeze on other formats, in particular one-day cricket which at the moment is like the ugly stepsister.
“I don’t think six teams is enough but there’s going to be problems getting it all in, the Olympics goes for 15-16 days, it’s going to be difficult to get all the games in.
“I can see in five years time there’ll be some big nations that won’t make the Olympics, it might be an India, who knows? And in a way that would defeat one of the main purposes for what they’re doing it for.”
With the USA an automatic qualifier, the inclusion of the country is seemingly part of a huge approach by the ICC and various nations to grow the game.
The first season of the Major League Cricket T20 competition brought various big names to the tournament, including Australia’s Adam Zampa and Marcus Stoinis.
Taylor hopes to see the USA become competitive in time for the Olympics, and sees massive potential for cricket’s growth in the country.
“You’ve only got to look really at Major League Soccer in America, there was always soccer in America but it’s only really in recent times it’s taken off over there with the big franchises and people like David Beckham getting involved,” he said.
“That’s the potential for cricket.
“The concern will be this T20 (Olympics), the USA have got five years, hopefully over the next five years they can put together a very competitive side because the last thing you need is for a major nation like India or Australia to miss qualifying for the Olympics and see that the American side are losing every game.”
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Hasibur Rahaman is a passionate sports journalist. He covers everything from cricket to field hockey, delivering up-to-the-minute updates and in-depth analysis of sporting events, both within India and on the international stage.