ICC Cricket World Cup 2023: Can the sport finally go global?

Packed stadiums. Raucous crowds. Hooting vuvuzelas. The stage is set for cricket’s biggest carnival, which kicks off in India on October 5 with 10 nations competing for the World Cup over six weeks.

On the surface, the numbers suggest a global event: With over one billion fans, cricket is among the world’s most popular sports. But almost five centuries after the earliest recorded reference to cricket in southeast England, the sport’s market largely remains limited to a handful of countries, led by India.The sport spread with the British Empire, with the first international matches played in the second half of the 19th century. Yet, even as cricket has evolved over the years with changes in rules and the introduction of new formats and competitions, it has struggled to expand its reach beyond Commonwealth countries.

India, Australia and England dominate as cricketing powerhouses on the field while also holding significant positions of power off the field in the governance structures of the sport. Apart from the ‘Big Three’, other major cricketing nations include Pakistan, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, South Africa, Bangladesh and Caribbean countries that play together as the West Indies.

And that’s about it.

Football’s governing body FIFA boasts more than 200 member nations. The International Cricket Council (ICC), by contrast, has only 12 full members, with dozens of other nations as associate members.

The 50-over World Cup, for long cricket’s marquee event, has swung between accommodating more teams – a record 16 participated in the 2007 edition – and limiting participation to a select band of top-performing nations, as will be the case this time around.

The next edition, in 2027, will see 14 teams battle it out, but that’s still a much smaller number than the 32 nations that have competed in the football World Cup since 1998. In fact, 48 will feature in the next football World Cup in 2026.

So, can the World Cup fire up interest in cricket beyond countries that already love the sport? Or are shorter formats, like 20-overs-a-side competitions – known as Twenty20 (T20) cricket – the vehicles that can propel support around the world? Does cricket even have a global future?

The short answer: Cricket does have scope to grow, but it is unlikely to become a global phenomenon anytime soon. And more than the 50-over World Cup, it is the three-hour spectacle of T20 cricket that is the way forward, say experts, especially with the emergence of franchise leagues in new markets such as the United States. Women’s cricket can also help improve the sport’s global footprint, while a possible return to the Olympic Games might serve as a boost.“Cricket has a relatively high barrier to entry compared to most sports, simply due to the level of equipment required to play even a recreational game,” said Matt Roller, assistant editor at the ESPNCricinfo website. “In my view, that is the principal reason that football has long been a global sport: All you need is a ball and any small space.”

But there are other reasons, too, behind cricket’s failure – by and large – to expand beyond its traditional markets, believe some experts.