Australian coach Andrew McDonald has urged the ICC to increase squad sizes for the expanded 2027 World Cup. Citing more games in the new format, he says it will help teams manage injuries and maintain their best playing XI in varying conditions.
Australian head coach Andrew McDonald has called for greater squad sizes for the expanded 2027 ICC Cricket World Cup, arguing that teams should be allowed to carry more members in their squads with the number of games increasing. He also added that this would allow the team to manage their injured players and playing XI composition better, as per the conditions.
Recently, the International Cricket Council (ICC) announced that the 2027 WC, to be co-hosted by South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia, will have 14 teams and laid down a new structure which will include a Super Series round before the group stages and a Super 7 round before the semifinals. This is a huge change in the format from the 10-team 2023 edition, which Australia won. After a nine-match group stage, the knockout stages started with the semifinals.
During the 2023 WC, Australia played a total of 11 games, and the winner of the 2027 World Cup will have to play at least 13 matches, including five group stage games, six Super 7 games, a semifinal and a final. There is a possibility that the number of games for the winner goes up to 15 if one of the bottom-three ranked teams features in the two-match ‘Super Series’ and is able to make it to the final.
Citing past World Cup injury challenges
Australia has long advocated for larger squad sizes at World Cups, having experienced injuries within their camps in the 2019 and 2023 Cricket World Cups and the 2022, 2024 and 2026 T20 World Cups.
Speaking to SEN Radio on Wednesday, McDonald argued that teams should be allowed to carry larger squads because they would be playing more matches in the 2027 edition within the same time frame as the 2023 edition.
“One of the big things from my perspective is if it is going to be your pinnacle event, what do your squad sizes look like?” McDonald said as quoted by Cricinfo. “We had the dilemma of what it looked like having a 15-player squad for the last World Cup, and I think New Zealand were in the same boat where we had a couple of injuries, Travis Head been the most notable one, and I think Kane Williamson and a couple of others for New Zealand, where you end up with sort of 12-13 players to select from early on in your tournament, and you are trying to carry those other players through the early rounds, and you are not able to play potentially the way that you want to play, or structure up the way that you think you need to, and in particular in countries where you in the north or the south or the east or the west, the conditions change quite significantly,” he added.
Australia battled injury concerns in the 2023 edition, with their star opener Travis Head missing a chunk of the group stage due to a finger injury suffered before the tournament. Australia did not name a replacement for him as he was due to be cleared by the medical team halfway through.
As per the ICC rules, a player cannot be left out of the 15-man squad and return halfway through the tournament unless they come in as an injury replacement following approval from the ICC’s technical committee. Australia carried an injured Head as a part of their main 14 and played five group stage matches with just 14 fit players. They did not carry a second specialist spinner in the squad, as Head was a useful part-time spin option. Aussies gambled on Adam Zampa to stay fit throughout the tournament. The gamble paid off as Head smoked a century against New Zealand on his return during the competition and secured ‘Player of the Match’ awards in the semifinal against South Africa and India, demolishing a dominant Men in Blue with a stroke-filled 137 in the title clash at Ahmedabad’s Narendra Modi Stadium while chasing 241 runs.
‘You want the best players available’
Australia are quite wary of the injury concerns that could follow ahead of the tournament, with them playing 20-21 Tests in 14 months before the start of the tournament, including tough five-match assignments against India and England away from home in the first seven months of next year. The pace trio of ODI skipper Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood, and Mitchell Starc have faced injury concerns in recent months, causing them to miss marquee series/tournaments, while Cameron Green, Marnus Labuschagne and Alex Carey are some other marquee stars who cannot afford an injury ahead of the tournament.
Wicketkeeper-batter Josh Inglis and Matt Renshaw could feature in some Test tours and some bilateral limited-overs cricket ahead of the World Cup. The famed pace trio of Cummins, Hazlewood and Starc did not feature in the 2025 ICC Champions Trophy and the 2026 ICC T20 World Cup, with the Aussies facing a semifinal finish and Super Eight exit in both of these tournaments.
The Australian head coach cited the example of the recent FIFA World Cup 2026, which allowed for 26 squad members, urging the ICC to increase the number of squad members to 17. He also pointed out that cricket leading up to the Cricket World Cup is demanding and there will be players who would be ’50/50′ and some star players could face injuries and hence a larger squad could allow teams to carry these players with them to the tournament.
“My push within it, any time you are playing more games in the same period of time, you do not want it to be attritional,” McDonald said. “You want the best players to be available. So, there should be a conversation around – yep, that is great, you have landed at that, okay, what about the squad sizes?
“This is going to be a pinnacle event. I think there is an argument to say, great, you have put more games in front of us, give us larger squads, allow us to play the way that we need to play within those conditions, and then also you have got the ability to carry those potential stars of the game that are under injury clouds leading in because the cricket leading into the World Cup is demanding, so you are going to have some people that potentially are 50-50 at that point in time.” “So let us carry the best players in there. Give us larger squads to be able to navigate through the early part, and then hopefully the pinnacle event has the best players playing, rather than being ruled out early on due to injury and the attritional nature of a World Cup,” he signed off. (ANI)
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