By Carlena Knight
National cricketer Karima Gore has welcomed the news that both the West Indies and the United States of America will be the joint hosts for the 2024 ICC World T20 Cup.
Gore, who is currently a member of the USA Cricket team, told Observer that it would be a great feeling for him to be able to play for the US on home soil as he grew up in Antigua, playing for teams like the PIC Liberta Blackhawks.
“It was a good feeling to know that the two nations that I call home will be hosting the World Cup and so it is just something to look forward to and to keep pushing towards,” Gore said.
For the first time, 20 teams will compete in the T20 World Cup with both the USA and West Indies guaranteed places, as the ICC Board made the decision back in April to award automatic qualification to the co-hosts.
Twelve teams are to qualify automatically for the event.
The top eight teams from the 2022 event will be joined by the two host members, West Indies and USA, plus a number of the next highest ranked teams on the MRF ICC Men’s T20I Rankings table as of 14 November 2022, with the remaining places then going through Regional Qualifying.
It will be a historic tournament as Cricket World Cup will be coming to North America for the very first time.
Meanwhile, for Gore — who is presently in Antigua competing in the Cool & Smooth T20 Explosion with defending champions, Liberta Blackhawks — the focus is to keep “getting better”.
“I take it day by day and take the opportunity each day to try and get better at something that I wasn’t good at before. So, if last week I did something and I got better, I try to better that this week and going forward.
“Once you can better yourself, I think, that’s the way to go,” he said.
Gore made his ODI debut for the United States on April 27, 2019 against Papua New Guinea.
Prior to his List A debut, he played in several 50-over matches in March 2019 for the United States against the United Arab Emirates
In June 2019, he was named in a 30-man training squad for the United States cricket team, ahead of the Regional Finals of the 2018–19 ICC T20 World Cup Americas Qualifier tournament in Bermuda. The following month, he was one of 12 players to sign a three-month central contract with USA Cricket.
He went on to make his debut in Twenty20 International (T20I) for the US against Canada on August 21, 2019.