Former England captain Michael Atherton is conflicted and questioned his own opinion if ICC events such as World Cups be held every year. There was a T20 World Cup in 2024, in 2025 the ICC Champions Trophy was played and this year there was again the T20 World Cup, and in 2027 there will be the ODI World Cup.
But he says that these tournaments are crucial for the associate nations where they get the exposure of the playing the strong teams, and it also serves as a platform to showcase their talent.
“It’s why I’m a bit conflicted about the number of World Cups that we have. In a way, you think there’s going to be the law of diminishing returns. If you have a World Cup virtually every year, well, there’s essentially three World Cups every four years with the biennial T20 World Cup and then the quadrennial 50-over World Cup… that makes three out of every four years,” Atherton was quoted saying on Sky Sports after India’s win over New Zealand in the T20 World Cup 2026 final.
“So you think gradually, you know, that there’ll be a law of diminishing returns. But equally, you know, people will say, who are supporters of the associate nations, that they want a T20 World Cup every two years because that’s the time that they have to showcase what they’re about and, you know, the time to get on the big stage,” he added.
The 2024 and 2026 editions of the T20 World Cup featured 20 teams, where smaller teams from associate nations such as Italy, Namibia and Nepal got a chance to compete with strong teams.
Atherton said: “So, somewhat conflicted about that, but obviously a global game is a good thing in theory and practice. T20 is obviously going to drive that. It’s long been, you know, we give the ICC a bit of stick from time to time. It’s long been their desire to globalise the game through T20.”
“It’s the obvious format because it narrows the gap and makes it more likely that games will be competitive, and that is working to some degree. In terms of giving teams more opportunity, it is difficult with the calendar sometimes. But when you think how many times England have played Scotland, for example, which I think is six times in our history, when they’re our next-door neighbours, there must be more opportunity to give a team like Scotland more chances when teams come and tour England, and indeed England themselves,” he added.
