A radical plan to overhaul the overcrowded cricketing schedule has been tabled, featuring three major international tournaments per calendar year and international-free windows, allowing the best players in the world to feature in the various franchise cricket leagues across the globe.
An eight-year plan features an annual six-team Test cricket tournament played over two months, and T20I and ODI tournaments played in the Super 12s format seen at the recent T20 World Cup in Australia over three and a half weeks. Essentially, an annual World Cup in each format.
This century has seen India and T20 cricket rise to prominence, and this is reflected in the scheduling. Each year there will be at least one of the major tournaments played in Asia, and every second year will see the T20 tournament hosted on the sub-continent during October.
The traditional format will gain a new lease of life, with the best six nations in the world playing each other over two months. The tournament will be hosted in England every second year and Australia every fourth year, highlighted by the Final being played on Boxing Day at the MCG. Africa and Asia will also host once every eight-year cycle.
Cricket’s oldest contest, The Ashes, will continue to be scheduled as a five-Test series every four years at home and four years away, between England and Australia.
The recent T20 World Cup in Australia saw huge crowds supporting teams such as India and Pakistan. Globalisation and the increase in immigration to countries such as Australia, South Africa and the UK means there are fan bases all over the world that will passionately support their country of ancestry.
There is real possibility that the T20 game will bring growth to new frontiers such as the USA and Europe in the very near future, through tournaments such as the T20 World Cup and Franchise T20 cricket.
We want to see the best players playing for their country. We want to see the best players having opportunities to represent their local franchise tournaments. We want the best players to remain fresh and not over-burden them with cricket.
The January window is expected to signify a reduced Big Bash tournament in Australia, with a number of other countries hosting their month-long franchise tournaments during this period. The April and May window allows for the IPL to shine on the world stage.
The July window gives The Hundred the opportunity to attract the best players in the world.
With a number of gaps in the calendar, the schedule provides opportunity for individual cricket associations all over the world to schedule their own bilateral series, franchise tournaments and first class fixtures where they best see fit and to play the cricket format that works best for them, whilst being able to take their share of the profit from the major tournaments fixed in the schedule.
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