ICC president praises England's Twenty20 vision

Colin Crompton,Pa
Tuesday 23 June 2009 00:00 BST
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David Morgan, the president of the International Cricket Council, has declared that England's hosting of the World Twenty20 was "an overwhelming success".

Morgan was delighted with the crowd sizes – 96 per cent of tickets were sold, making it significantly more commercially successful than the inaugural event in South Africa in 2007 – and also the enthralling cricket.

Pakistan beat Sri Lanka in Sunday's men's final, while Charlotte Edwards's England side took the women's title, but the entire tournament from the well-attended warm-up matches onwards was well received.

"For any event such as this to be successful it relies on the hard work of literally thousands of people but ultimately it will be judged by the quality of cricket that is presented to us by the players," said Morgan. "And I think it's fair to say that in that regard we have been royally treated over the past 17 days or so in England.

Morgan also believes the decision to run the men's and women's tournaments simultaneously, with the semi-finals and finals taking place at the same venues on the same day, was an inspired idea. "The increase in profile the women's game received from television exposure and the fact the men's and women's semi-finals and finals were played as double-headers was a great boost for the women's game and I believe will do wonders for growth in that area," he said.

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