Last Updated on 25 seconds ago by Charbel Coorey
The ICC recently announced the format of the 2027 ODI World Cup which will be co-hosted by South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia. The 14-team tournament will be played in a different format than the 2023 edition in India. Before the group stage, a Super Series round will be played and before the semi finals, a new Super 7 stage will be added.
The 2023 ODI World Cup was played between 10 teams and Australia won the tournament in the end. Australia played a total of 11 games, namely nine group games, a semi-final, and the mega final to decide who will be crowned as a champion.
Australia’s head coach Andrew McDonald, speaking to SEN radio in Australia on Wednesday, said teams should be allowed bigger squads for the 2027 World Cup. He believes larger squads will be vital as teams will need to play more games in the tournament.
McDonald’s request is seen to be motivated by their past experiences as Australia has long been a vocal advocate of the concept of expanding World Cup squads. The side has had several injury concerns at the 2019 and 2023 ODI World Cups and the 2022, 2024 and 2026 T20 World Cups.
Andrew McDonald urges ICC to allow larger squads for the marquee ODI event in 2027
McDonald has cited the argument that the FIFA World Cup allowed for squad sizes of 26 for a sport with only 11 on the field. Spain played only eight matches to win the tournament.
The Australian coach, in his interview on air said, “One of the big things from my perspective is if it’s going to be your pinnacle event, what do your squad sizes look like? We had the dilemma of what it looked like having a 15-player squad for the last World Cup, and I think New Zealand were in the same boat where we had a couple of injuries.
“Travis Head been the most notable one, and I think Kane Williamson and a couple of others for New Zealand, where you end up with sort of 12-13 players to select from early on in your tournament, and you’re trying to carry those other players through the early rounds, and you’re not able to play potentially the way that you want to play, or structure up the way that you think you need to, and in particular in countries where you in the north or the south or the east or the west, the conditions change quite significantly.
“My push is that, whenever you’re playing more games in the same period, you don’t want it to be attritional.
“You want the best players to be available. So, there should be a conversation around – yep, that’s great, you’ve landed at that, okay, what about the squad sizes?” McDonald said.
The Australia coach also pointed to the number of matches teams play in the leadup as a reason for larger squads.
“This is going to be a pinnacle event. I think there’s an argument to say, great, you’ve put more games in front of us, give us larger squads, allow us to play the way that we need to play within those conditions, and then also you’ve got the ability to carry those potential stars of the game that are under injury clouds leading in because the cricket leading into the World Cup is demanding, so you’re going to have some people that potentially are 50-50 at that point in time.”
This statement by the Australian coach underlines how tough it is for players to maintain their physical fitness in a longer competitive tournaments. It will be interesting to see if the ICC puts these changes in place.
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