Hosting the Women's T20 World Cup in England and calling it a step toward growing the game is a bit like selling biryani in Mumbai and announcing you've done a great job spreading biryani around the world. England is the home of cricket. The fans are already there. The infrastructure is already there. Nothing new is being built.

The ICC has a mandate to grow cricket globally, but its major event calendar keeps cycling through the same handful of countries: India, England, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, South Africa, Australia. Familiarity reduces friction, and friction is expensive, so the path of least resistance keeps looping back to the same destinations. The problem is that the mandate isn't to make event logistics easier. Choosing the easier option and choosing the growth option are two different things, and the ICC keeps picking the former.

Non-traditional markets don't develop themselves. They develop because the sport shows up, invests attention, and gives local audiences a reason to care. A major ICC event held somewhere cricket hasn't historically had a foothold does more for long-term growth than another tournament in a country where the sport is already woven into the culture. The next cycle of major events is a real opportunity to change that pattern.

Published on Subwave

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