2020: The Year For Olympic Cricket?
As the Beijing Olympics kick off this week, Twenty20 cricket is gaining more support to feature in the 2020 Olympic Games.
The latest ‘big name’ to join the debate is Australian captain Ricky Ponting, who follows calls from countrymen Steve Waugh and Adam Gilchrist and Sri Lanka’s vice captain Kumar Sangakkara to include the bitesize-version of cricket in the Summer Olympic line-up.
Ponting, 33, acknowledged his international career would be over by 2020, but said: ‘I would love to be marching into the Olympic stadium in Beijing during tonight’s opening ceremony.’
‘It would be amazing to be centre stage at the Olympic Games when you have the eyes of the world looking at everything you do.
‘Having spent a lifetime in sport I could not think of anything better or more exciting than cricket being part of the Olympics.’
Sri Lanka vice captain Kumar Sangakkara made the point that including the sport would add to its international appeal, telling the Times of India: ‘The Olympic Games would provide the perfect platform to showcase the Games to a larger audience, drawing in new fans and helping drive cricket development in emerging cricket countries.’
He added, ‘2020 might seem like a long way away but we need to start the process now. We need to embrace Twenty 20 fully’.
The International Cricket Council is currently considering further representation to the International Olympic Committee for a Games Twenty20 by 2020.
