LONDON: The World Cricketers’ Association (WCA) issued a blunt assessment about the state of the game on Wednesday as it urged officials to create defined windows in a “chaotic” schedule and provide a fairer distribution of the sport’s riches.

The global players’ union comments formed part of a review that took six months to compile and included the views of both current and former professionals, administrators and commercial partners.

It concluded that the unchecked growth of Twenty20 franchise cricket is creating a stranglehold that leaves the current “chaotic, inconsistent and confusing” international schedule “at genuine risk”.

The WCA’s most striking solution to that problem is a complete overhaul of the International Cricket Council’s existing future tours programme.

The current set-up, which dictates the bilateral obligations for each country, allows for huge differences between the sport’s wealthiest and poorest leading nations.

The players’ union wants four distinct international windows each year, alongside divisional structures for all three formats — Tests, One-day Internationals and T20 Internationals — taking in promotion and relegation based on results and feeding into World Cup qualification.

The new plans are proposed to take effect in men’s cricket from 2028 and women’s cricket in 2029 — when the existing agreements expire.

The WCA, many of whose members benefit financially from franchise tournaments, hopes this will allow international cricket “to co-exist with the growing T20 leagues rather than compete with them, thereby ensuring its future survival”.

Paul Marsh, chair of the sub-committee who produced the report, said: “Whilst there are a number of positive trends in cricket, there is no doubt that global cricket is at an inflection point.

“Many of the issues highlighted in the report are challenging, but they need to be discussed if we are to create a more sustainable future in more than just a few countries.”

Marsh, a son of the late Australia cricket great Rodney Marsh, added: “Creating a clearer global calendar and incorporating more consistency across formats along with greater competition integrity and context for international cricket, will benefit cricket and all of its stakeholders hugely.”

The WCA report also called for a new revenue model to combat the current financial dominance of India, England and Australia and modernisation of the ICC based on principles of “shared ownership, independence, and representation reflective of the whole sport”.

Published in Dawn, March 27th, 2025