Men's T20 World Cup: Melbourne to stage final of 2022 event in Australia

Image source, Getty Images

Image caption, Australia will be hosting the tournament for the first time

Next year's Men's T20 World Cup will be held across seven venues in Australia from 16 October to 13 November.

The tournament was supposed to be held in the country in 2020 but was pushed back by two years because of the coronavirus pandemic.

A total of 45 matches will be contested in Adelaide, Brisbane, Geelong, Hobart, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney.

Adelaide and Sydney will stage the semi-finals with the final under lights at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

Australia will be defending champions after their eight-wicket win over New Zealand in Dubai on Sunday.

Both teams automatically qualify for the Super 12 stage along with Afghanistan, Bangladesh, England, India, Pakistan and South Africa.

Former winners Sri Lanka and the West Indies will play in the preliminary round with Namibia, Scotland and four other countries to be determined through two qualifying tournaments - one in Oman next February and the other in Zimbabwe in summer 2022.

"Following the success of the ICC Women's T20 World Cup in 2020 [in Australia] and a two-year postponement, our sights are now firmly set on planning for the 2022 event," said International Cricket Council head of events Chris Tetley.