ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2020 might not happen

Cricket Australia's chairman, Earl Eddings, said that the men's T20 cricket World Cup in Australia is "unlikely" to happen this year due to the novel coronavirus pandemic.

The international tournament is originally scheduled to run between October 18 and November 15 across seven venues.

But it seems that fans will now have to wait for a longer period to see their favourite sportsmen don their national team jerseys and compete in the biggest stage of cricket.

In an interview, Eddings said, "Trying to get 16 countries into Australia, when most countries are still going through COVID spiking, is unrealistic, or will be very, very difficult. The ICC are having meetings as we speak. It's a bit of a moving feast at the moment. We've put forward a number of different options to the ICC that we're working through."

Notably, international cricket hasn't been played since March 13.

The last match was played in Sydney between Australia and New Zealand, in which the hosts defeated the Kiwis behind closed doors.

The last major cricket tournament to be held was the Women's T20 World Cup in Australia between February 21 and March 8.

Meanwhile, international cricket is about to return after about four months since coronavirus lockdown, as England is set to host a three-match Test series against the West Indies from July 8.

According to BBC, the International Cricket Council (ICC) said that it is planning to organise the men's T20 World Cup in Australia in February and March next year. However, as of now, no official statements have been released and it is yet to be seen if the World Cup will be delayed.

Meanwhile, Cricket Australia chief executive officer Kevin Roberts has resigned from his designation after months of criticism about his mishandling of the novel coronavirus crisis.

The 47-year-old was heavily criticised for his cost-cutting measures. He had asked 80% of the staff members of the cricket board to take a pay cut.

Roberts was appointed back in October 2018 following James Sutherland's 17-year service. As of now, the chief executive of the T20 World Cup, Englishman Nick Hockley, has replaced Roberts on an interim basis.

Cricket Australia has said that a wider "operational reset" at the governing body is to be announced later this week.