Mumbai Indians’ Issy Wong along with her teammates celebrates the wicket of Delhi Capitals batter Taniya Bhatia throughout the 2023 Women’s Premier League (WPL) Twenty20 cricket match between Mumbai Indians and Delhi Capitals at DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai, on March 9, 2023.
| Photo Credit: PTI
The Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) has referred to as for “urgent intervention” to guard international cricket, saying it’s at an “important crossroads” amidst a crowded international schedule that’s getting more and more swayed by home leagues.
The mushrooming of leagues, together with the newest providing of SAT20 and ILT20, is placing so much of stress on the ICC’s Future Tours Programme (FTP), resulting in an “alarming disparity” within the quantity of matches performed by a minority of members nations which is neither “equitable nor sustainable”, it added.
While the Big Three— India, Australia, and England— get the lion’s share of international assignments, smaller Test-playing nations similar to Afghanistan, Ireland and Zimbabwe, amongst others, get a uncooked deal as a result of of the extraordinarily tight FTP.
MCC mentioned the aim of the assembly held in Dubai, “was to examine how international cricket can be protected, amidst a global cricketing schedule that is increasingly filled with short-form franchise tournaments”, and “what global cricket might look like in 10 years’ time should it be left to evolve organically”.
“The men’s cricket schedule in 2023 is saturated with franchise competitions, which overlay and compete with the ICC Future Tours Programme (FTP) of bilateral international cricket, recently released until 2027. The only gap in the combined schedules this year is in October and November when the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup takes place in India,” MCC mentioned in an announcement on Friday.
“This trend is repeated annually, with constant overlap between international and franchise cricket, and the only clear air created for ICC Global tournaments. Of the domestic tournaments, only the Indian Premier League commands anything like a window to avoid international clashes.
“Also notable within the new males’s FTP is an alarming and rising disparity within the quantity of international cricket performed by a minority of member nations in comparison with others; a scenario which is clearly neither equitable nor sustainable.” The MCC said that while the global game had never been in a “more healthy place”, it added that the financial windfall should percolated to every single ICC member nation.
“The committee felt strongly that the chance to raised stability the worldwide economics of the sport have to be seized now in order that this present place of power may also help safe the sustainability of the international recreation for all ICC Member nations and future generations.”
ICC Women’s FTP is very clean: MCC
The MCC lauded the ICC Women’s FTP but also urged boards to take learnings from men’s games to make international cricket more sustainable for players amid rise of T20 leagues.
“Unlike the lads’s model, the lately launched first model of the ICC Women’s FTP till 2025 seems very clear and presents no overlapping of international and home leagues,” it said.
“However, the (MCC’s) WCC (World Cricket Committee) urges boards to work collectively to search out the optimum stability between the 2, taking learnings from the lads’s congested schedule, to make sure that the general workload for the sport’s finest international feminine cricketers is sustainable.
“With women already seeing a heightened disparity of income in some countries between the franchise leagues and international cricket (versus men), and the consequential choices some are beginning to make to step away from international cricket, there are worrying signs of potential trends to come.”
Imperative to discover a stability: Ganguly
Former India captain and WCC member Sourav Ganguly mentioned it’s crucial to discover a stability between franchise cricket and the head of the sport— Tests.
“I still believe that Test cricket is the biggest platform for cricket. That is where you find the great players, and that is why it is called a Test. It is a test of skill.
“That ought to at all times proceed to be the head and I’m certain that nations will give significance to it and discover the correct stability between franchise cricket and Test cricket,” said Ganguly.
Former Australia men’s head coach Justin Langer said the pride of playing for the country and landmarks achieved in international cricket are immeasurable, and that’s the reason Test cricket should be protected.
“The distinction between international cricket and home T20 cricket is that the entire nation cares when their nation is concerned. The finest gamers’ statistics are measured at international stage: everybody is aware of that (Sachin) Tendulkar scored 100 international centuries and that Muralitharan took 800 Test wickets.
“We need to protect the integrity of Test cricket, and international cricket in general. It is how great careers are judged and it is where true passion and lasting memories are generated.”
