After Australia won the ICC Men's T20 World Cup, the ICC could announce the United States and West Indies as the hosts of the 2024 competition ©Getty Images

As Australia’s cricketers celebrated their Twenty20 (T20) World Cup victory over New Zealand by drinking beer from a cricket boot, reports suggested, with the International Cricket Council (ICC) keeping an eye on inclusion on the Olympic programme at Los Angeles 2028. 

In what is described as a "seismic shift which would also serve as a launchpad for cricket’s long-awaited inclusion in the Olympic Games," The Sydney Morning Herald newspaper has reported that the ICC is set to choose a joint bid from USA Cricket and Cricket West Indies to host the 2024 tournament.

Back in June, the ICC announced its intention to expand its T20 World Cup competition to 20 teams and make the tournament biennial in an attempt to increase interest "outside of non-traditional markets.".

It would be the first time since 2014 the competition has not been hosted by Australia, England or India, who have become known as the three major countries in world cricket.

Australia has already been awarded the 2022 T20 World Cup. 

The International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) Agenda 2020 gave Olympic Organising Committees the right "to make a proposal for the inclusion of one or more additional events on the Olympic programme for that edition of the Olympic Games".

Los Angeles 2028 are expected to present their list of sports when the IOC Executive Board and full session gather in Beijing before the Olympic Games next February.

The West Indies won the ICC Men's T20 World Cup in 2016 and are now pushing to host the competition alongside USA Cricket ©Getty Images
The West Indies won the ICC Men's T20 World Cup in 2016 and are now pushing to host the competition alongside USA Cricket ©Getty Images

USA Cricket signed an agreement to bid for major events in partnership with Cricket West Indies as part of a foundational plan for the development of the sport over the next 10 years in America.

It is also pressing for cricket to be included on the programme of the Pan American Games.

It will return to the Asian Games programme in Hangzhou next September and a women’s event will also be part of the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.

Although T20 seems the most likely format if the sport is to return to the Olympics for the first time since the Paris 1900 Games, former South African skipper Faf du Plessis has suggested that an even shorter format could be used for Los Angeles 2028.

"The future of T10 is looking good," DuPlessis said as he prepared to lead the Bangla Tigers in this week’s Abu Dhabi T10.

"It's a format that can be used in the Olympics. 

"The quick nature of T10 also makes it attractive to the fans. 

"I think T10 is only going to get better and better."