Twenty 20 World Cup

The ICC World Twenty 20 is the international championship of the exciting twenty over format of the game. The tournament itself consists of twelve teams from all test playing nations plus some qualifiers.

The inaugural tournament was held in South Africa in 2007 and another world cup was held in England in 2009. There is no minimum time between the competitions currently, the next one being held in the West Indies in 2010.

Pakistan have appeared in both of the finals, losing to India in 2007 and beating Sri Lanka in 2009.

The fast paced format of twenty over cricket is incredibly popular among fans and players alike. It is a great spectacle for all viewers and allows some of the best players in the world to show off their skills in new and amazing ways. With much higher scoring rates than any other form of the game, people looking for sporting action will enjoy the thrills of Twenty 20 cricket.

All Test playing nations qualify automatically for the competition with the remaining places filled by ICC member nations who have made it through a qualifying tournament. The three teams that qualified for the previous tournament in 2009 were the Netherlands (who famously triumphed over England), Ireland and Scotland. The Scots only qualified after Zimbabwe withdrew from the competition.

The World Twenty 20 tournament had the same format and consisted of three stages:

- Group Stage – Four groups of three teams (two test nations 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.

It is possible to bet on the World Twenty 20 at many bookmakers in the UK. Current favourites for the title are Australia, India and South Africa, all of whom are priced at 9/2 with Pakistan and Sri Lanka following closely behind.

World Twenty 20 betting