International cricket must be protected - MCC on growth of franchise-based T20 leagues

The Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) afterits latest World Cricket Committee (WCC) meeting in Dubai, has concluded that time has arrivedfor the game’s leaders to come forward and ensure the flow of even funding among all playing nations. It has also urged them to work on the possible formula where international and franchise-based T20 cricket leagues can thrive together harmoniously.

“The WCC unanimously concluded that the game has reached an important crossroads, recommending urgent intervention from the game's leaders to ensure international and franchise cricket can thrive together harmoniously,” the MCC said in a statement after a meeting in Dubai.

Mike Gatting, the former England captain and the chairperson of the WCC, shared his concerns about the slow death of traditional formats following the introduction of countless T20 leagues. Considering the status of Test cricket across all playing nations – where in some countries it is popular while in others they are finding it hard to sustain with it, Gatting said for Tests to survive, an equal distribution of funding among all nations is the need of the hour now.

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"Bilateral cricket, and indeed Test cricket, is more popular in some parts of the world than others. With this in mind, we need to ensure that funding is more evenly distributed across the member nations. It is inconceivable that the game's heart and soul can be affluent in some countries and almost unaffordable in others," Gatting said in a statement.

Aware of how fast the game is evolving and how it will shape in ten year's time, Gatting feels if the right steps towards balancing the global economics of cricket is not taken now, two of the traditional formats could suffer an adverse fate.

“The committee felt strongly that the opportunity to better balance the global economics of the game must be seized now so that this current position of strength can help secure the sustainability of the international game for all ICC Member nations and future generations," the MCC said. The concerns of the members, admittedly, centred on the future of the game, specifically what global cricket might look like in ten years' time, and should it be left to evolve organically.”

Stressing over the current Men’s FTP that reflects a worrisome picture given how packed it is because of the induction of several franchise-based T20 leagues around world, Gatting feels the international cricket must be protected at any cost – although no measures or guidelines were laid down as of now as to how it would be done.

"The purpose of such foresight was to examine how international cricket can be protected, amidst a global cricketing schedule that is increasingly filled with short-form franchise tournaments," it said. "Also notable in the new men's FTP is an alarming and growing disparity in the amount of international cricket played by a minority of member nations compared to others; a situation which is clearly neither equitable nor sustainable,” Gatting said.