Olympic cricket at LA 2028 set for 9am start times

LA 2028 organisers have slated matches at the Olympic cricket tournament to start at 09:00 in the morning to cater for lucrative television audiences in India.

One of the major factors behind cricket's return to the Games after a 128-year hiatus is the desire of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to tap into a lucrative South Asian media rights and sponsorship market.

The six-team T20 tournament, featuring both men's and women's teams, will begin on Wednesday, 12 July - two days before the opening ceremony - with all matches staged at a venue which will be constructed at the Fairgrounds in Pomona.

There will be two games played daily at Pomona - located 30 miles from the athletes' village in Los Angeles - starting at 09:00 and 18:30 Pacific Daylight Time.

Those matches will be shown at 21:30 and 07:00 India Standard Time (17:00 and 02:30 British Summer Time).

The evening fixtures at the ground in Pomona will be played under floodlights.

Kit McConnell, who oversaw cricket's return to the Games after a 128-year hiatus as the IOC's sports director, told BBC Sport organisers considered "core cricket markets in the subcontinent" when planning the tournament.

"The vision the International Cricket Council (ICC) has outlined for us is aimed at providing the best players and the best teams on the Olympic stage," McConnell said.

"There's three years to go but now we're very excited about where cricket is, what it will bring to the Games and equally what the Olympics can offer to cricket and its global expansion as well."

BBC Sport understands the competition structure for cricket at the Olympics has now been agreed following meetings between the ICC, IOC and LA 2028 organisers.

The six participating teams will be divided into two groups of three with each team playing each other once.

Teams will then play two sides from the other pool, apart from those who were ranked in the same corresponding position.

For example, the winners of Group A will play the second and third-placed teams in Group B and vice-versa.

Results from all four matches will then be used to determine final rankings with the top two sides playing in a final to decide the gold and silver medals.

The teams who finish third and fourth will play off for bronze.

Medal matches will be played on 20 and 29 July with the women's and men's tournament set to run in separate slots rather than being played concurrently.

The ICC is set to discuss how teams will qualify for LA 2028 at their Annual General Meeting in Singapore, starting on 17 July.

Some members want T20 rankings to determine which teams go to Los Angeles but others have expressed a preference for qualifying tournaments.

The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) and Cricket Scotland have held talks to form a new entity called GB Cricket to oversee a team for LA.

The IOC have given assurances there will not be a repeat of the pitch controversy which blighted showpiece games at last year's T20 World Cup in New York, which the USA co-hosted.

The 34,000-seat temporary stadium in Eisenhower Park looked impressive, but the drop-in pitches used for matches during the initial group stage, including the high-profile fixture between India and Pakistan, were subject to criticism.

Unlike the venue in New York, which returned to use as a public park, the ground in Pomona is set to remain a cricket facility for permanent usage by Indian Premier League and Major League Cricket franchise owners Knight Riders.

As reported by The Cricketer,, external the IOC and ICC are in negotiations with the Knight Riders over installing a square as opposed to using drop-in surfaces.

"We're very conscious about the importance of the field of play and in the case of cricket, the pitch," McConnell added.

"Now that we have finalised the venue, we can move forward with all of those plannings in a more concrete sense.

"I don't think it's only the T20 World Cup. I think every cricket match has commentary about the pitch and what type of play it suits."