The men's T20 World Cup, scheduled to be held in Australia later this year, has been postponed because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The tournament was due to take place between 18 October and 15 November.

An edition will be held in October and November 2021 and another in 2022.

"The decision gives us the best possible opportunity of delivering two safe and successful T20 World Cups," said International Cricket Council (ICC) chief executive Manu Sawhney.

"Our members now have the clarity they need around event windows to enable them to reschedule lost bilateral and domestic cricket."

It has not been announced whether the 2021 tournament will be held in India as planned, and the 2022 competition in Australia, or the Australia edition will be moved to 2021 and India to 2022.

The ICC also announced that the 2023 50-over men's World Cup in India will move from February and March to October and November.

It says it will "continue to evaluate" the situation before deciding on the 2021 Women's World Cup in New Zealand in February, with planning continuing as scheduled.

The men's 2021 T20 tournament will finish on 14 November, and England are set to start their Ashes tour of Australia later that month.

Melbourne, which was scheduled to host seven games including the final, went back into a six-week lockdown on 9 July after a spike in coronavirus infections.

All travellers entering Australia currently need to undertake a mandatory 14-day quarantine period.

Test cricket returned in England on 8 July with all the players and people involved in the game in a bio-secure bubble but the ICC deemed that unworkable with 12 different nations involved.

England are playing a three-Test series against West Indies - who arrived in England four weeks prior to the first Test in Southampton to meet isolation restrictions - before playing series against Ireland and Pakistan in late July and August.

They are also hoping to play a limited-overs series in September against Australia, who named a preliminary 26-player squad last week in a "positive albeit not definitive step".

The postponement means the Indian Premier League, which was due to start on 29 March, may take place in the vacant window later this year, while England's tour of Sri Lanka that was called off in March may also be rearranged.

The next Women's T20 World Cup is scheduled to be held in South Africa in 2022.

Australia won the 2020 edition in one of the last major sporting events before lockdown.