Melbourne will host World T20 men's and women's finals in 2020

The historic Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) will play host to the men’s and women’s finals of the ICC World Twenty20 in 2020. The World T20 is cricket's World Cup event for the shortest and most exhilarating format of the sport.

In 2015, the MCG hosted the ICC World Cup final, the biggest event in the 50-over format of the sport. Steven Smith's Australians defeated neighbouring rival New Zealand in the final to win their record fifth ICC cricket World Cup. The Aussies had previously won the competitions in 1987, 1999, 2003 and 2007.

The World T20 is the only major cricketing tournament that eludes Australia. Smith's team will get the opportunity to end the drought in front of their home fans. He is already “already looking forward to 2020” after leading his team to victory in the 2015 World Cup. “Thinking back to 2015, the World Cup here in Australia, just the support that we had for those six weeks was something incredible,” Smith said in an ICC press release.

ICC World Twenty20: Geelong to debut as a venue

According to The Herald Sun, Geelong will debut an international venue, joining cities such as Brisbane, Canberra, Hobart and Perth in hosting the ICC World Twenty20 event. Daniel Andrews, boss of Victoria cricket, is excited that Geelong will host a tournament with a global audience in excess of 1.5 billion people.

"When you think about the most recent Boxing Day Test, some 250,000 people attended that Test match. Our World Cup history most recently, I think we did Victoria and indeed Australia proud and we again, in hosting those finals, put on a real festival of cricket as well as allow people from the world over to experience our great city," said Andrews.

Meanwhile, Australia women’s captain Meg Lanning is hoping that the female quotient of the event will draw the same eyeballs as the men's event. “I’ve been in the crowd watching people play out there in front of 90,000 people and potentially the opportunity to be out there in the middle for that is really exciting,” Lanning said.

The Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) will reportedly host both women’s semi-finals, while the Adelaide Oval and SCG will host the men’s semi-final games. Stay tuned for the latest news and updates ahead of the 2020 ICC World T20 event in Australia.