The ICC has confirmed the qualification pathway for cricket's return to the Olympics in 2028, with six team events for both men and women. Five teams will get automatic entry for each tournament, with an eight team qualifier to decide the sixth place in each tournament.
Unbeknowst to anyone, the ongoing Women's T20 World Cup was, in part, a qualifier for the women's Olympic tournament. The best performing teams from the Asia, Europe, Africa and Oceania regions get the first four automatic places, and the ICC confirmed that these teams are India, Great Britain (via England), South Africa and Australia.
The first four teams for the men's competition will be decided through the rankings at the end of this year. The top team in the rankings from those four regions will qualify. At the time of writing, these are also India, Great Britain (via England), South Africa and Australia.
The fifth place in each event is currently reserved for the USA, but to get a host place they have to appear in the top 15 of the relevant rankings at any point from tomorrow until the end of the year. At the time of writing, USA men are in the top 15 and will remain there barring anything very strange happening today. The women are currently down in 20th place, 39 points behind 15th placed UAE and have no matches scheduled for the rest of the year.
Should USA women not get in the top 15 before the end of the year, the fifth automatic place in the women's tournament will go to the best ranked team not already qualified. Currently that is New Zealand.
Poster advertising the only previous Olympic Cricket Match
The West Indies will not be eligible to participate at the Olympics as the constituent boards all compete independently, with the exception of Anguilla, Montserrat (both as part of Great Britain) and Sint Maarten (as part of the Netherlands). Instead, provided that the West Indies are in the top eight teams not already qualified - this is highly likely to be the case at the end of the year - a separate West Indies qualifier will be held to determine their representative in the Olympic qualifier.
The other seven highest ranked teams - excluding those that don't compete at the Olympics - will then join those West Indian representatives in each qualifier. For the men's qualifier, these seven teams are currently New Zealand, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Ireland and Zimbabwe. For the women's teams this is currently Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Ireland, Bangladesh, Thailand, Papua New Guinea and Netherlands.
The Ireland team at the Olympic qualifier would be a Republic of Ireland team, though athletes from Northern Ireland are able to choose between representing either Great Britain or Ireland. The ECB and Cricket Scotland have already met to discuss arrangements for a Great Britain team, with Scottish players set to be involved. In theory, cricketers from Northern Ireland, Guernsey, Jersey, Isle of Man and British Overseas territories except Bermuda, British Virgin Islands and Cayman Islands would also be eligible.
The tournaments in Los Angeles will mark cricket's return to the Olympics for the first time since the 1900 games in Paris, when a team representing Great Britain - the Devon and Somerset Wanderers - took on a team representing France - the French Athletic Club Union who were mostly British residents of Paris. "Great Britain" won the two day match. Teams from Belgium and Netherlands withdrew shortly before the games. There was an attempt to include cricket in the 1904 Olympics in St Louis, but not enough entries were received.
