With cricket set to make a return to Olympic fold after 128 years at the Los Angeles edition in 2028, former Australia captain Ricky Ponting said that it’s a positive step towards the growth of the game.
“It can only be a positive thing for our game. I’ve sat on various committees over the last 15 or 20 years, and it’s always been on the top of almost every agenda – how do we get the game back into the Olympics? And finally, it’s there,” Ponting said on The ICC Review.
“It’s only four years away. I think it also gives cricket a chance to break into the grassroots level in the US,” he added.
The only time cricket featured previously in the Olympic Games was way back in 1900, with two teams – Great Britain and France – participating, and the former winning gold.
“The thing about the Olympic Games, it’s not (about) the host nation. It’s about the audience that it opens up. The Olympic Games being viewed by so many people all around the world, it just opens up completely different audiences to our game that’s seemingly growing on a daily basis anyway. It can only be a real positive thing for the game,” he said
Ponting maintained that while the infrastructure and qualification pathways would still need to be figured out but, with its inclusion, the game is moving in the right direction overall.
“Facilities and infrastructure and those things are going to be key, and how many (participating) teams they actually decide on. I think it’s only six or seven teams that they’re talking about, so qualification is going to be at a premium – how you actually qualify to get into the Olympic Games.”
“So all those are things to think about, (but) I’m really excited about where the game’s headed and the growth of different markets that we’re seeing emerge.”
In June this year, the USA jointly hosted the T20 World Cup with the West Indies, and received a lot of flak due to the dangerous pitches in one of the three venues. Eventual champions India played all its group stage games in New York where the drop-in pitches were criticised by cricket pundits across the world.
Cricket at LA28 will be played in the T20 format, with both men’s and women’s teams set to feature, and the organisers still have four years to prepare proper pitches to avoid similar backlashes from the fraternity.