CHENNAI: The World Cricketers’ Association (WCA) has formed a six-member panel to review the cramped international calendar which it believes is “broken and unsustainable”. The review will be conducted by a six-member team led by former head of the Australian Cricketers’ Association Paul Marsh and he will be joined by former Pakistan captain Sana Mir, former FICA head Tony Irish, ex-ECB CEO Tom Harrison, and head of sports at Disney Star Sanjog Gupta.
The WCA chairperson Heath Mills said they had “given up hope” that the game’s leaders could establish a coherent structure. “The players deserve a say on the future of the game and want us to start putting forward some solutions to known issues. The process we have put in place, guided by independent expertise, will be focussed on making recommendations to our Board on optimising the game’s global structure, ensuring sustainable value, and providing more clarity, consistency, and less confusion for players, fans and commercial partners alike,” Mills said in a statement.
The three main issues the review is looking to address is global scheduling, global game economics and player employment, contract & regulation. “The current model is broken and unsustainable – confusing and chaotic global scheduling with no clarity on the interplay between international cricket and the domestic leagues means players are increasingly forced to choose between representing their country and optimising their careers,” the statement read.
The group will consult various stakeholders, including players, current and former administrators, and franchise owners, to develop a set of recommendations which will be first be presented to the WCA board and later shared with the broader cricket community, including the ICC. There is no deadline but the target is to finalise the recommendations by the end of the year, according to the report.