CHENNAI: Putting World Test Championship (WTC) on hold for a year and redrawing the Future Tours Programme (FTP) are some of the issues that member boards are likely to push for during their meeting on Thursday. Cricket activities have come to a halt worldwide. Given the pandemic has come at a time when few boards were looking to sell their broadcast deals, the financial implications are expected to be severe for them.
On Thursday, ICC will hold its Chief Executives’ Committe (CEC) meeting via tele-conference. According to reliable sources, the demand for deferring WTC by a year is being pushed by most boards. If this proposal does get backing, then the alternate plan is to resume the WTC next year from where it is placed now, and hold the final in 2022 instead of 2021.
While this would mean altering the entire FTP, member boards are ready to push for this to protect their own interests. The severity of the situation was highlighted on Tuesday by Cricket Australia (CA). Chief Kevin Roberts went to the extent of presenting a proposal to BCCI for the scheduled Test tour Down Under later this year, suggesting the matches be played at a single venue — Adelaide Oval — in front of empty stands. In fact, CA has already made an offer to BCCI for extending the four-match Border-Gavaskar Trophy to five clashes, as it is suffering financially. If the India’s Test tour doesn’t go ahead, CA will be in for huge losses, from which it will be hard to recover. All indications point to WTC being paused, with BCCI going ahead with the Australia tour as planned without the series being counted for the championship. But beyond that, more changes are expected.
England’s Test tour of India next February-March could be pushed back by a year, opening a window for BCCI to set up a limited-over tour of South Africa — Cricket South Africa has reached out to them with this idea — and a home season consisting of only white-ball cricket. “It is too early to say how the cricketing landscape will look in the next year, but expect a few changes,” a BCCI official told this daily. “The primary objective is to protect member boards. For that, we need to look at alternate ways. ICC has to be prepared to take bold and necessary steps.”
There is a possibility that BCCI, CA and England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) might even use the crisis to their advantage, reworking the financial model with the promise of playing bilateral series with others. But this is expected only in June. What is certain now is that most members are looking at BCCI to bail them out. With the broadcasting rights of Sri Lanka, Pakistan, West Indies and Bangladesh up for renewal this year, these nations don’t expect any takers unless they have a lucrative series against India, Australia or England lined up for the next year or two.
With concerns regarding the T20 World Cup — scheduled for October-November in Australia — a decision is expected on Thursday. “Where is the place for an ICC tournament when the member boards are suffering?” an official said. “With CA not even certain about the India tour, how will they host the World Cup?”