Sixteen teams to play World T20 from 2014

The International Cricket Council's Executive Board on Monday, decided to increase the number of teams in the biennial World Twenty20 Championships from 12 to 16 for the editions commencing 2014.

During a weekend meeting here, the ICC Board received a report of the strategic discussions held at the Chief Executive's Committee (CEC) in March and confirmed the "increase, from 2014 onwards, the number of teams participating in the ICC World T20 from 12 to 16 men's teams.

"The event should remain a joint men's and women's event," it said.

"Three additional Twenty20 Internationals may be played in the year in which the ICC World Twenty20 is being staged provided there is a corresponding reduction in the maximum number of permitted ODIs (as per ICC Scheduling guidelines - the current regulations permit a maximum of 12 T20Is for each Full Member in any one year)."

Haroon Lorgat said the amount of cricket was discussed before the decision. "The need to manage volume of cricket was considered when agreeing to allow the additional T20Is to be played in a year," he said.

The Board confirmed the hosting for the ICC World Twenty20 2014 qualifying tournament in the United Arab Emirates in October 2013 and the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 qualifying event in New Zealand in 2014.

Other decisions taken included confirmation to proceed with a high-level evaluation of cricket's participation in multi-sport games; the necessity for women's cricket to play at least three ODIs or three Twenty20s in a calendar year in order to retain their ODI and T20 status; and, following an independent study, that the current Reliance ICC Rankings are fit for the purposes of determining qualification to ICC events and for promotion/relegation purposes.