Melbourne: Cricket Australia (CA) has echoed BCCI’s concerns about ICC’s proposed one flagship tournament every year during next eight-year FTP cycle (2023-2031), as they are not ready to compromise on conducting bilateral Test series.
During the ICC meeting in Dubai earlier this month, it was announced that a working group of member nations had agreed in principle to the chief executive Manu Sawhney’s idea of selling eight ICC men’s events in eight years (2023-2031) as part of the next broadcast rights package.
BCCI CEO Rahul Johri has already expressed his concern and ICC has been apprised that world’s richest cricket board is not on same page.
Cricket Australia chief executive Kevin Roberts’ apprehension about the global body’s plans will be music to BCCI’s ears.
“The ICC schedule of tournaments is certainly something that is absolutely up for discussion at the moment and will continue in the months ahead,” Roberts recently told SEN Radio.
“There’s a sense that fans really value World Cups and international events in general, and in this last cycle on the men’s side, I think we’ve had six world events in the eight years whereas the previous cycle, we had one event per year with the Champions Trophy as part of that.”
The next eight year cycle will see four T20 World Cups being played, along with two fifty over World Cups. With another Champions Trophy like tournament included in between all of this, Roberts feels it might have an impact on the ICC Test Championship.
“We need a healthy balance of World Cups along with international cricket that occurs between World Cups and the space for great domestic leagues like the BBL and the IPL to thrive into the future,” Roberts said.
“What we’re really keen to work on with the ICC and what we will be working on with the ICC and other ICC members is what parts of the annual calendar might the ICC events occupy in future, how many days of the calendar does that represent and how do we ensure the bilateral international cricket between ourselves and other nations is really embraced and respected in the process?.”
The ICC had recently concluded a long process of sorting out bilateral series between nations into Test and ODI leagues, with the Test Championship culminating in a final every two years — the first to come in 2021 — and the ODI league serving as the road to World Cup qualification.
Roberts also wants ICC to ensure the cap on the days for its events so that window for popular private T20 leagues like IPL and BBL is not compromised.
“… How many days of the calendar does that represent and how do we ensure the bilateral international cricket between ourselves and other nations is really embraced and respected in the process, so we’ve got a healthy balance of World Cups along with international cricket that occurs between World Cups and the space for great domestic leagues like the BBL and the IPL to thrive into the future.”