With the International Cricket Council finally releasing the Future Tours Program amidst much anticipation, the debate around international cricket and ‘it is’ scheduling has been reignited once again. Contrary to what was reported and expected, the comprehensive plan did not contain any windows for franchise cricket tournaments like the Indian Premier League and The Hundred. In fact, the number of international matches has actually increased from the previous cycle, thus invoking great hope for international cricket’s future.
However, as far as I can see, the plan has not done much to subdue the fear of franchises taking over. At the end of the day, the three components that dictate the future of the sport are the players, the fans and consequently, the money. All of which are catered to by franchise cricket. Let's ask then, what if they did take precedence? What if cricket was structured like European football, where international cricket was indeed the exception instead of being the norm? Here is a thought experiment aiming to simulate a flipped scenario of the present cricketing landscape and see if the sport is capable of working that way.
First, time to establish a basic structure for such a scenario. One can expect a franchise season lasting seven to eight months, with multiple annual national franchise leagues running simultaneously. There would be an international club tournament like the Champions League, where qualification would be deemed by coefficient points awarded as per the performance of the clubs in the competition after initial qualification spots are allotted as per the ICC ranks of national teams.
The leagues and franchises will continue to make money as they are doing now, through sponsorship and broadcasting deals. Players would be centrally contracted to franchises and play international games on a match-fee basis. There would be two windows of international cricket: the winter window around December in the middle of the season, and the summer window around July at the season’s end. Major ICC events would take place every year in the summer window, with qualification matches for the same to take place in the winter windows.
Now, why does such a format work out for football but cannot for cricket? To begin with, cricket is perhaps the only global sport apart from chess to have such varied formats, each of which is held on an equal footing in the modern game. With franchise cricket taking over, players will only be developed keeping T20s in mind. Impetus will slowly be lost on first-class and even one-day cricket, while even domestic cricket will die out because their role in spotting and developing talent would be extinct.
Similarly, it would be impossible to juggle three international formats in the space of just two windows across the entire year. Unlike most sports that span a few hours, test matches take up five entire days and are extremely toiling for the players. Consequently, there would no longer be any marquee event as such for Tests, meaning the format will eventually grow irrelevant and die out. Long tours are and have always been the core of international cricket, the storylines they provide through a variety of conditions despite the competitors remaining the same is what makes cricket so unique. Every pitch, every weather condition, and every match is different, especially when it comes to the longer format of the game
This is awesome 👌
You must be logged in to post a comment.