VC the slogger
PlanetCricket Forever
- Joined
- Aug 23, 2010
The sport of cricket has finally returned to the Olympic Games after a 116-year hiatus. A total of 20 NOCs have confirmed their participation for the Olympic cricket tournament set to take place in the 2016 Olympic Games hosted by the city of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. The list of participating nations includes the host nation
Brazil, who will participate alongside
Afghanistan,
Australia,
Bangladesh,
Barbados,
Great Britain,
India,
Ireland,
Jamaica,
Kenya,
Namibia,
Netherlands,
New Zealand,
Pakistan,
Papua New Guinea,
South Africa,
Sri Lanka,
Trinidad & Tobago,
United States of America and
Zimbabwe in an intense knockout tournament.
Rather surprisingly, the 40-over format was prefered to the more popular and far more marketable T20 format. Due to the lack of cricketing facilities in Rio de Janeiro which has not hosted cricket matches of any significance since 1988, the Maracanã Stadium and Estádio Olímpico João Havelange will play host to cricket using artificial/drop-in pitches.
Cricket will also follow football's example by introducing an age restriction which limits the top 7 ranked teams as of the latest ICC Test rankings to no more than 5 players above the age of 23 in their respective squads, the two bottom ranked teams in Bangladesh and Zimbabwe to 7, and all other non-Test playing teams barring Brazil (they have only 3 players aged 23 or below available) to 9. Many of the world's leading cricket players such as AB de Villiers, Virat Kohli, Steven Smith etc have decided to skip the tournament due to international commitments elsewhere or the need for rest between the hectic schedule of international cricket. Some, however, have made themselves available to in order to find some valuable match practice before the start of the next season.
Rather surprisingly, the 40-over format was prefered to the more popular and far more marketable T20 format. Due to the lack of cricketing facilities in Rio de Janeiro which has not hosted cricket matches of any significance since 1988, the Maracanã Stadium and Estádio Olímpico João Havelange will play host to cricket using artificial/drop-in pitches.
Cricket will also follow football's example by introducing an age restriction which limits the top 7 ranked teams as of the latest ICC Test rankings to no more than 5 players above the age of 23 in their respective squads, the two bottom ranked teams in Bangladesh and Zimbabwe to 7, and all other non-Test playing teams barring Brazil (they have only 3 players aged 23 or below available) to 9. Many of the world's leading cricket players such as AB de Villiers, Virat Kohli, Steven Smith etc have decided to skip the tournament due to international commitments elsewhere or the need for rest between the hectic schedule of international cricket. Some, however, have made themselves available to in order to find some valuable match practice before the start of the next season.
Last edited:
Javed Ahmadi 
