ICC to expand WTC to 12 teams, finalise Olympic pathway

Test cricket’s competitive landscape is preparing for its most significant restructuring in years. The International Cricket Council is moving toward formally endorsing an expanded 12-team World Test Championship, a decision that would bring three new nations into the sport’s premier red-ball competition and redefine what participation at the highest level looks like. In parallel, the ICC is closing in on final decisions regarding the 2028 Olympic qualification pathway.

Bangkok meeting to set the course

Both decisions were originally scheduled for resolution at the ICC’s quarterly meetings in Doha in late March, but the conflict in the Gulf forced a postponement, as previously reported by cricexec. Online sessions convened in their place remained informal, leaving the substantive agenda unresolved. Bangkok has since emerged as the probable venue for a rescheduled in-person board meeting, with the ICC targeting ratification of both the WTC expansion and the Olympic framework before July’s annual conference in Edinburgh — the governing body’s first return to the Scottish capital in a decade. Annual conferences rarely serve as the setting for binding institutional decisions, making the Bangkok meeting the critical near-term window for converting widespread agreement into formal policy.

Three nations on the cusp of WTC inclusion

According to journalist Tristan Lavalette, Afghanistan, Ireland and Zimbabwe are set to join the existing nine WTC participants when the next cycle gets underway in July 2027, widening the competition’s footprint across Full Member cricket. Support for the proposal reportedly remains strong across the membership, with the ICC’s Chief Executives’ Committee having already indicated its approval. Some uncertainty lingers around the position of a small number of influential member nations, though the weight of sentiment within the governance structure points firmly toward ratification.

The road from two tiers to one division

The proposal now approaching endorsement is, in large part, a product of what was rejected before it. The ICC had pursued a framework that would reorganise Test cricket along tiered lines, separating Full Member nations by competitive standing into two distinct divisions, as previously reported by cricexec. That plan met firm resistance from smaller boards, who viewed it as a structural barrier that would limit their access to fixtures against the game’s leading sides and undermine the development trajectory of emerging Test nations. A working group led by former New Zealand batter Roger Twose was established to find a workable alternative, ultimately producing the single-division 12-team recommendation that has since gathered the broadest support across the membership.

Scheduling obligations under the new cycle

The expanded format will bring with it a set of participation requirements that member boards are already beginning to factor into their planning. Bilateral scheduling discussions under the next Future Tours Programme are underway, with a minimum number of Tests per nation expected to be built into the new WTC cycle as a baseline obligation. Beyond that floor, one-off Test matches are being explored as an additional mechanism to encourage larger nations to schedule fixtures against sides they might otherwise overlook.

Olympic qualification advances in parallel

While the WTC expansion commands the headline, a separate but equally consequential decision is nearing resolution alongside it. The qualification structure for cricket’s appearance at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics is understood to be largely agreed upon, as previously reported by cricexec, with both the men’s and women’s six-team competitions to follow the same entry framework. The top-ranked nation from each of four regions — Asia, Oceania, Europe and Africa — will earn direct qualification, with the United States securing automatic entry as host nation. A global qualifier, likely held in 2027, will determine the final spot in each draw from a field of the eight highest-ranked sides that do not qualify directly.

One notable shift concerns the women’s competition. Lavalette reports that plans that had previously tied women’s Olympic qualification to the upcoming T20 World Cup have been set aside in favour of the same regional ranking model applied to the men’s event. The United States — ranked 16th in men’s T20Is and 24th in women’s — is now expected to earn automatic berths on both sides, a development that has invited scrutiny over the competitiveness of its women’s side at that level.

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