LA28 cricket competition to start two days before opening ceremony

Cricket's return to the Olympics at the Los Angeles 2028 Games is set to begin on July 12, two days before the official opening ceremony on July 14.

According to the organisers, the cricket event will run from July 12 to 29, with the medal matches scheduled for July 19 and July 29. The early start dates have been referred to as ‘Minus 1’ and ‘Minus 2’ by the organisers.

The competition will be divided into two phases. The first phase will take place from July 12 to 18, followed by the first set of medal matches on July 19. After a short break, the second phase will run from July 22 to 28, with the final medal match set for July 29.

While the full match schedule and format have not yet been shared, organisers confirmed that more details, including medal events and gender order, will be announced later.

“The gender sequence for events in the 2028 Games is not yet available. As stated in today's release, 'A more detailed schedule with medal events and gender order will be released later this year,’” LA28 said.

The cricket competition will feature six teams each in the men’s and women’s categories. Each team will have a 15-player squad, with 90 athlete spots allocated per gender.

The qualification process is still being finalised, but it is likely that teams will qualify based on T20I rankings as of a specific cut-off date. It is still unclear whether the USA, as the host nation, will receive direct qualification. If confirmed, this could reduce the number of qualification spots for other countries.