Protect international cricket amid surge of franchise tournaments says MCC

Dubai. The Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) has called for ‘urgent intervention’ to keep international cricket safe, saying it is increasingly being affected by domestic leagues amid a busy global schedule. A plethora of franchise leagues, including the latest SLT20 and ILT20, is putting too much pressure on the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) Future Tours Program (FTP), leading to a ‘dangerous disparity’ in the number of matches played by weaker member nations .

India, Australia and England, who are part of the Big Three, get the lion’s share of international tournaments while smaller Test playing nations like Afghanistan, Ireland and Zimbabwe do not get to play many matches against top teams due to very busy FTP. The MCC said the purpose of the meeting, held in Dubai, was to examine how international cricket could be preserved amid a busy global cricket schedule filled with shorter-format franchise leagues and what global cricket would look like over the next 10 years if it was organized systematically. Give time to develop.

Indian cricketer’s IPL debut in 41 years, took hat-trick in just 2 balls, regret! Could not play even 1 international match

The MCC said in a statement on Friday, “The men’s cricket program in 2023 is full of franchise competitions which compete with the recently released ICC Future Tours Program of bilateral international cricket until 2027.” The only time this year without a combined schedule clash is in October and November, when the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup will be held in India.”

Not only Yuvraj Singh, Yograj Singh has 2 more sons, one is Yuvi’s real brother and the other step-brother, know what they do

According to the statement, “This trend is repeated annually. International and franchise cricket is constantly clashing. This is not the case only during the ICC’s global tournament. Indian Premier League is the only domestic tournament where conflict with international cricket can be avoided. The MCC lauded the ICC Women’s FTP, but called for lessons from the men’s game to make international cricket more useful for players amid T20 leagues.

“Unlike the men’s schedule, the recently released ICC Women’s FTP schedule until 2025 is very clear and there is no conflict between international and domestic leagues,” the MCC said. Former India captain and World Cricket Committee (WCC) member Sourav Ganguly said it is imperative to strike a balance between franchise cricket and the pinnacle Test format of the game.

He said, “I still believe that Test cricket is the biggest platform for cricket. This is where you get great players and that is why it is called Test. It is a test of skill.” Ganguly said, “It should always remain at the top and I am sure countries will value it and strike the right balance between franchise cricket and Test cricket.”

First read breaking news in Hindi News18 Hindi| Read today’s latest news, live news updates, most reliable Hindi news website News18 Hindi.

Tags: bbl, ICC, indian premier league, international cricket, IPL, P.S.L.