Zimbabwe to Co-Host 2027 ODI World Cup

[sam_ahm]

Great news for Zimbabwe cricket, will be co-histing the 2027 Cricket World Cup along with South Africa and Namibia.

Interestingly it will be the same format as in 2003, with 14 teams, super 6 and then the Semis and Finals.

[secretzimbo]

Great news! I was saying the other day how popular ZC currently (inexplicably) is within the ICC.

https://www.icc-cricket.com/news/2354682

[sam_ahm]

Great news! I was saying the other day how popular ZC currently (inexplicably) is within the ICC.

https://www.icc-cricket.com/news/2354682

Yes mate great news!!! Also very refreshing to see mostly different nations hosting different white ball events.

I'm a bit surprised by the dates though.. October /November instead of the usual February /March as we had in 03.

[secretzimbo]

Heard we were interested in a T20WC but to get the proper world cup instead is really cool!!! Quite unexpected. Hopefully we get more than just a couple of games. Great that a return to 14 teams is confirmed as well.

DOn't really understand why they are persisting with the Champions Trophy. A global event every single year is surely overkill.

[lobsang]

The last time Zimbabwe hosted a major ICC event was in 2003 alongside neighbhoring countries South Africa and Kenya and it was the 2003 ICC ODI World Cup which Australia won.
it is interesting to discuss where Zimbabwe cricket will be by 2027. Many on this forum fear that once Williams, Craig and Raza retire, Zimbabwe cricket will disappear into oblivion.
Contrary to the popular belief, with promising youngsters like Muzarabani, Madhevere, Shumba, Burl, Myers, Ngarava and Marumani, I certainly believe that things will be better after those three's retirement than it was in 2005 after the rebels' walkout, the talent depth right now in the youth is superior to the talent depth in the youth after the rebels' walkout in 2005, of course, there was young Brendan Taylor and promising Taibu but apart from that things looked extremely bleak during those post rebels' walkout. Zimbabwe failed for years to even be competitive against good sides after 2005, they suffered thrashings after thrashings. And now with these promising lads on the rise, if ZC can get their shit together and unearth another two to three quality players, preferably one quality spinner and two top order quality batters, from the under 19s in the next three years then they can just stay somewhere at 8th to 9th best teams in the world. And a host means a guaranteed spot in the world cup so that may even bring back or entice some of the talents lost to greener pastures oversea. So just a food for thought guys.

[Rajkumar Sharma]

Great news for Namibia. Kenya is now getting replaced by Namibia as 3rd african team in top level cricket. Kenya cricket board needs to think seriously to keep cricket alive in the country

[TapsC2]

Heard we were interested in a T20WC but to get the proper world cup instead is really cool!!! Quite unexpected. Hopefully we get more than just a couple of games. Great that a return to 14 teams is confirmed as well.

DOn't really understand why they are persisting with the Champions Trophy. A global event every single year is surely overkill.

Yes it's strange but I think the Champions trophy will be the new "elite world cup" with the 10 team/round robin format. Then they will use the world cups to "expand" the game's global reach.

They probably did the maths and realized countries like the USA, Nepal etc can be captured and increase revenue. To be honest Zimbabwe, Scotland, Ireland and the Netherlands don't contribute much in terms of TV revenue and they are teams 11 to 14. Namibia won't do much for TV revenue either.

I'm expecting massive 16 team world cups in the future, especially for T20s.

[TapsC2]

Let's hope our standards won't deteriorate too badly. Wes and Shumba are just 2 guys. We need at least 4 or 5 more. Importing is the only way from what I can see. The next 18 or so months are the most vital months in our cricketing history. That's the most amount of time I see Ervine, Raza and Williams giving us. At the moment we only have half a team without them (Wes,Shumba, Burl, Blessing, Ngarava)

[slcricfan1]

Let's hope our standards won't deteriorate too badly. Wes and Shumba are just 2 guys. We need at least 4 or 5 more. Importing is the only way from what I can see. The next 18 or so months are the most vital months in our cricketing history. That's the most amount of time I see Ervine, Raza and Williams giving us. At the moment we only have half a team without them (Wes,Shumba, Burl, Blessing, Ngarava)

I`d add Wellington and Regis in there though Regis might be a little bit too old

[CholeZimbo]

Let's hope our standards won't deteriorate too badly. Wes and Shumba are just 2 guys. We need at least 4 or 5 more. Importing is the only way from what I can see. The next 18 or so months are the most vital months in our cricketing history. That's the most amount of time I see Ervine, Raza and Williams giving us. At the moment we only have half a team without them (Wes,Shumba, Burl, Blessing, Ngarava)

I`d add Wellington and Regis in there though Regis might be a little bit too old

Key player Wellington. Underrated now, but watch this space.