Next year’s T20 World Cup will be held across seven venues in Australia, with Sri Lanka and the West Indies forced to play for a place in the Super 12 stage.

The tournament, which was supposed to be held Down Under in 2020 but was pushed back two years due to the Covid-19 pandemic, will take place between 16 October and 13 November.

A total of 45 matches will be contested across Adelaide, Brisbane, Geelong, Hobart, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney, with the final under lights at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

Sydney and Adelaide will host the semis.

Hosts Australia will be defending champions after hammering New Zealand by eight wickets in Dubai this past Sunday, with both of this year’s finalists automatically qualifying for the Super 12 stage along with Afghanistan, Bangladesh, England, India, Pakistan and South Africa, who are the eight highest-ranked teams.

Sri Lanka and the West Indies will play the preliminary round with Namibia, Scotland and four other countries to be determined through two qualifying tournaments – in Oman in February and in Zimbabwe in June-July.

© Agence France-Presse