IOC hoping for ‘clarity' over Great Britain team as cricket eyes Olympic return
The sport is due to return to the Games for the first time since a solitary appearance in 1900 and it was confirmed last month that both men and women would compete in two six-team T20 tournaments.
The qualification process has yet to be announced by the International Cricket Council, with world rankings the simplest and bluntest tool available given the lack of space in the calendar.
England and Scotland players could be turning out together for Team GB at LA2028 (Jane Barlow/PA)
England are currently ranked second in women's T20s and third in men's but any representative team in LA would have to be part of Team GB.
Talks have been ongoing between counterparts at the England and Wales Cricket Board and Cricket Scotland and the PA news agency understands some form of combined selection process is favoured.
Things are different for the West Indies, who have expressed a willingness to host an inter-island competition should the region win a spot.
The IOC hopes to have a formal qualification structure agreed within months and wants certainty over these matters first.
'We'd like clarity about how the places would be used in those two cases, Team GB and the West Indies,' IOC sports director Kit McConnell told PA.
'Every team has to represent the National Olympic Committee of their territory. There's different ways of doing that, sometimes it's a nominated country that chases the qualifying place and competes, other times it's an aggregate of players from different territories.
'We'd like to have clarity around that and be clear in the qualification system so everyone goes in with eyes wide open about how the process works, how qualification is achieved and used. We've given them some examples across other sports of how that works so they are not starting a base of zero.
'But it's all a normal part of working things through with sports coming in for the first time or for the first time in a long time.'
It has been confirmed that cricket will be held at a pop-up stadium in Pomona, around an hour from the athletes' village in LA, with the idea of outsourcing the games to New York shelved.
That would have provided a friendlier time zone for fans in the sub-continent but organisers are keen to embrace cricket at the heart of the wider Olympic experience.
📍The Fairgrounds in Pomona, Southern California
Where cricket will make its return to the Olympic stage!
Read more: https://t.co/mpUfycpBGx pic.twitter.com/B3lGMMisJ1
— ICC (@ICC) April 15, 2025
'We only get one chance at a first impression with cricket coming back to the Games,' said McConnell.
'We want the athlete experience in LA to be something special. It was an important consideration that we want these cricketers to really feel part of the Games, not only representing their country but feeling like Olympians.
'We want them to have the opportunity to go to other events, support team-mates across other sports, attend the opening ceremony. We want them to have a true Olympic experience.
'We want to maximise the connection between the Olympic Games and the cricket community. That doesn't start with the first ball of match one, it's a three-year runway to LA.'
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