Australian head coach Andrew McDonald has urged International Cricket Council to increase World Cup squad size after the 2027 ODI format expansive. The ODI World Cup 2027, which would be co-hosted by South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia, will see 14 teams take part in the event.

Each team has been presently given a limit of 15-man squad and McDonald reckons the governing body should increase the squad size.

With the World Cup set to last almost 45 days, it would be crucial for all the team to manage the workload and injuries of their players.

In fact, a team could even play as many as 15 matches if one of the lower-ranked teams progresses from the Super Series to the final.

“One of the big things from my perspective is if it’s going to be your pinnacle event, what do your squad sizes look like?” McDonald said to SEN radio in Australia.

McDonald added an injury to any of main players puts the whole campaign in jeopardy as it becomes difficult to pick the final XI from 12-13 players.

“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’re trying to carry those other players through the early rounds, and you’re 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 continued.

The 2027 ODI World Cup will run from October 4 to November 21.