Ponting backs call for T20 cricket in Olympics

Australia great Ricky Ponting has given his public support to calls by the MCC world cricket committee for Twenty20 cricket to be included as an Olympic sport.

Some officials in major cricket nations such as England have long been resistent to the idea of the sport joining the Olympics, fearing the impact it could have on its own home season.

But others within cricket see the Games as an ideal way to spread the game globally, as emerging nations can receive government funding for Olympic-linked sports.

Ponting, who serves on the MCC world cricket committee alongside fellow former Test captains Mike Brearley (England), Shaun Pollock (South Africa) and Sourav Ganguly (India), told reporters at Lord's on Tuesday: "It was quite unanimous throughout the members of this committee that we should look to grow the game into an Olympic sport.

"The opportunity to open up different markets, considering the Olympics is the pinnacle of global sport, to be able to get cricket into something like that would be an awesome spectacle in itself," he added at a news conference following a two-day meeting.

"It would be great for the growth and development of cricket, obviously talking about T20 cricket here."

Ponting continued: "There were a number of things that were tossed around, whether, like with football, make it an Under-23 tournament. The whole discussion round cricket being in the Olympics was very positive.

"That's one way of breaking into some of these markets and attracting new audiences into the game, which I think the game needs right now."

Rugby Union, where many of the major nations are the same as those in cricket, will see its shortest format, Sevens, make its Olympic debut at next year's Rio Games.

The Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) has urged the sport's ruling body to try to get the game's Twenty20 international format into the Olympics.

Cricket has been played only once at a Summer Games, in Paris in 1900, but there have been growing calls to return the sport to the programme.

Twenty-six sports were on the programme at the 2012 London Summer Olympics and rugby sevens and golf will be played at next year's Games in Rio. 

The MCC, founded in 1787 and the owner of the Lord's ground where it is based, was formerly the governing body of world cricket and is the guardian of the laws of the game.

"The (MCC) committee is unanimous in its belief that every effort should be made to make cricket an Olympic sport, and urges all governing bodies around the world to get behind such a bid," the MCC said in a statement on Tuesday.

"The Olympics is a fundamental opportunity for cricket - in both the men's and women's game - and with a global reach, such a presence would expose the game positively to new markets."

The International Cricket Council (ICC) has been reluctant to push for the sport to be played in the Olympics.

"The committee urges the ICC Board to reconsider its position and take a decision that it believes is in the best interests of the global game," the MCC said.

"This would need to be done in the next 12 months for cricket to have a chance of being included in the 2024 Olympics."

Meanwhile the committee said a plan by the ICC, now effectively controlled by the sport's three wealthiest nations of India, England and Australia, to cut the 2019 World Cup in England to a 10-team event was a "retrograde step".

This year's edition in Australia and New Zealand featured 14 teams and there are fears for the future of cricket in emerging countries if they no longer have the incentive of a realistic shot at World Cup qualification.

The MCC world cricket committee put forward a proposal for a 12-team event with a preliminary qualifying round.

In a statement, it said a 10-team World Cup was a "retrograde step that damages the potential for growth in cricket's developing nations".

The ICC confirmed last month that the number of teams taking part in the 2019 and 2023 50-over World Cups, the sport's showpiece one-day tournament, would be cut from 14 to 10 countries.

The MCC believes the move could damage the potential growth of the sport in cricket's developing nations.

"The organisation of a 10-team ICC Cricket World Cup for 2019 and 2023 is a retrograde step," the MCC said.

"To limit future tournaments to 10 teams, albeit with qualification methods put in place, is a handbrake for the development of the sport."

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