Cricket is back at the Summer Games for the first time in over a century, added to the Olympic programme alongside four new sports for the forthcoming 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games. Days after the LA28 committee finalised the venue for the newest Olympic discipline, alongside announcing that men’s and women’s cricket will have six participating teams each, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) and Cricket Scotland have begun talks of forming a Great Britain Team for the 2028 Olympic Games.
“We have a really good working relationship with the ECB, so we have been in talks with them and [we’re] in the process of establishing a Team GB cricket entity. That’s what’s required by the British Olympic Association (BOA) for a British team to compete at the Olympic Games.” Cricket Scotland Chief Executive Officer Trudy Lindblade said in a chat with BBC Radio 4, as quoted by the Indian Express.
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Meanwhile, the last time cricket was part of an Olympic programme back in the 1900 (Paris Games), Team GB won the gold medal. 128 years later, both boards will sit to formulate the best XI representing Team Great Britain at the LA28 Games.
Cricket at LA28
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced the schedule for both men’s and women’s cricket at the LA28 Games, to be played in the T20 format as a six-team tournament.
Unlike how it happens in international cricket, where England, Ireland and Scotland play as three separate cricket teams, all three will have to club together to form one team of a maximum of 15 players – set by the IOC, for men’s and women’s competitions, but the governing body hasn’t finalised the qualification process yet.
“So it’s really interesting, the six teams for us, we would have an opportunity through the GB concept. There’s a lot to come in terms of how qualification takes place, not just for those six teams, but how, if a GB team were to qualify, we have selection within that. So, exciting times, and we’ll continue to liaise with the ECB and our colleagues at LA 2028 and ICC. It will be interesting,” Lindblade said.
Meanwhile, Pomona, a city in the Western part of the US, will host the cricket tournament at the LA28 Games.
“Cricket (T20) is a hugely popular global sport and will be included in the LA28 Games. A temporary venue will be built at the Pomona Fairplex to host the cricket matches,” the LA28 organising committee said earlier this week.
On the other hand, the Great Britain men’s football team, comprising players from England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, last took the field during the home Games in London in 2012, with the BOA showing interest in forming a Team GB in men’s football for the LA28 Olympics.
