ICC World Twenty20 : Grand Event Of Cricket

The ICC World Twenty20 or the ICC World T20 also referred to as the T20 World Cup is the international championship of Twenty20 cricket. The event is organised by the sport's governing body, the International Cricket Council (ICC). The tournament consists of 12 all-male teams and is contested by all Test-playing nations plus qualifiers. The event is held every two years.

The inaugural event, the 2007 ICC World Twenty20, was staged in South Africa from 11–24 September 2007. The tournament was won by India, who become the first World T20 Champions after defeating Pakistan by 5 runs in the final at Johannesburg. The second event, the 2009 ICC World Twenty20 took place in England from 5–21 June 2009. This tournament was won by the previous runners-up Pakistan who defeated Sri Lanka by 8 wickets in the final at Lord's, London.[1]

The 2010 ICC World Twenty20 will be held in the West Indies from 30 April to 16 May 2010.

Format :
Qualification
See also: World Cricket League Division One and ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier

All Test-playing nations achieve automatic qualification to the tournament, with the remaining places filled by ICC associate member nations through a qualification tournament.

Qualification for the 2007 ICC World Twenty20 came from the results of the first cycle of the ICC World Cricket League - a 50-over format league for non-Test playing nations. The two finalists of the Division One tournament - Kenya and Scotland - qualified for the inaugural World Twenty20 tournament alongside the Test-playing nations. Qualification for subsequent tournaments, beginning with the 2009 event, is achieved through a special event using the twenty20 format.

A ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier was held in 2008 as qualifier for the 2009 ICC World Twenty20 and currently is the main qualification tournament for all the upcoming World Twenty20's tournaments. The ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier 2008 was played between 2 August and 5 August 2008 in Stormont, Belfast in Northern Ireland. The six competing teams were: Bermuda, Canada, Ireland, Kenya, The Netherlands and Scotland, with the top three earning a place at the 2009 ICC World Twenty20 in England. The competition was won by Ireland and the Netherlands, who shared the trophy after rain forced the final to be abandoned without a ball bowled. Both teams qualified for the 2009 ICC World Twenty20 finals in England. Due to the withdrawal of Zimbabwe from the competition, the two finalists were joined by third-placed Scotland.

The ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier 2010 was the largest so far, with eight competing teams. It was played in the United Arab Emirates from 9 to 13 February 2010 with the top two teams progressing to the 2010 ICC World Twenty20 in the Caribbean. The eight competing teams were: Afghanistan, Canada, Ireland, Kenya, the Netherlands, Scotland, UAE and the USA.[2] Afghanistan qualified along with Ireland who were second.
[edit] Tournament
Main articles: 2007 ICC World Twenty20 and 2009 ICC World Twenty20

The tournament format for the 2007 & 2009 edition consisted of three stages:

* Group Stage - Four groups of three teams (two seeds and one qualifier) with two games per team and the top two teams qualifying for the Super 8s.
* "Super 8s" - Two four-team groups playing three games each. The make up of the groups was pre-decided based upon all seeds qualifying; if a seed failed to qualify the beneficiary took their allotted place in their respective group.
* Knock-out - Two group winners play the runner up of the other group in semi-finals, followed by a final.

Hosts:
The International Cricket Council's executive committee voted for the hosts of the tournament after examining bids from the nations which expressed an interest in holding a Twenty20 World Championship. After South Africa in 2007, England hosted the tournament in 2009 and will be followed by the West Indies in 2010 and Sri Lanka in 2012. The ICC decided that South Africa and England should host the first two tournaments as they were the earliest adopters of the format.