Australians admit T20 WC very risky to host

Melbourne, May 29: Cricket Australia on Friday conceded that there is “very high risk” of this year’s T20 World Cup being postponed and the body is bracing up for huge revenue loss because of that.

Speaking to reporters, CA chief executive Kevin Roberts admitted that the fate of T20 World Cup, to be hosted by Australia in October-November this year, is uncertain because of the global travel restrictions in place due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

“We have been hopeful all along that it could be staged in OctoberNovember

but you would have to say there’s a very high risk about the prospect of that happening,” Roberts said.

The ICC has deferred a decision on the event till June 10, saying it wants to continue exploring contingency plans for some more time.

Roberts said CA is staring at a revenue loss of around AUD 80 million.

“The likelihood of significant crowds is very slim — ordinarily that would deliver well over AUD 50 million revenue to CA. The T20 World Cup is a big question and that’s a factor of perhaps AUD 20 million,” the chief added.

“And it’s likely that our bio-security measures that we need to put in place to deliver the season will cost in the order of AUD 10 million,” he said.

The CA chief, however, is more confident of hosting the four-Test series against India starting at Brisbane on December 3.

According to the original schedule, India are slated to play at four venues — Brisbane, Adelaide, Sydney and Melbourne — but Roberts said there is every possibility of a tweak in the fixtures.

— executive

PTI