Cricket in Zimbabwe is set for a major lift following the confirmation of Zimbabwe as the co-hosts of the 50-over Cricket World Cup in 2027 along with fellow Southern African nations South Africa and Namibia.
This will be the second time that the country will host the ICC Cricket World Cup after successfully hosting the 2003 edition of the global tournament with South Africa and Kenya.
The decision to award the hosting rights to the Southern African nations was confirmed by the International Cricket Council (ICC) on Tuesday while confirming the host nations of the eight men’s white-ball tournaments to take place from 2024 to 2031.
In June 2024, the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup will go somewhere it has never been before, with USA hosting the event alongside the West Indies, which staged the tournament in 2010.
Eight months later, in February 2025, Pakistan will host the Men’s Champions Trophy. It will be the first major global cricket tournament played in Pakistan since 1996 when it hosted the Men’s Cricket World Cup alongside India and Sri Lanka.
In 2026, India and Sri Lanka will host the Men’s T20 World Cup, before another first-time major event host in 2027.
In October/November 2027, Namibia will host the Men’s Cricket World Cup for the first time alongside Zimbabwe and South Africa. South Africa and Zimbabwe last staged the event in 2003.
In October 2028 the T20 World Cup will be played in Australia and New Zealand and 12 months later India will host the Champions Trophy.
In 2030, England will share T20 World Cup hosting duties with Ireland and Scotland. It will be the first time since 1999 that Ireland and Scotland have hosted a major global cricket event.
The final scheduled event, in October/November 2031, will be the Men’s Cricket World Cup, played in India and Bangladesh.
