ICC May Have To Cut Down The Number Of Test Matches Due to Increasing Domestic Leagues And Attraction For Shorter Formats in Cricket.
Aamir Wadwan
Mumbai, 4th June 2022: International Cricket Council (ICC) chairman Greg Barkley has warned that the growing number of domestic T20 leagues and shorter formats of cricket is leading to shortened bilateral series and could cut the number of Test matches over the next decade.
Barclay, who became ICC chairman in November 2020, said that the ICC will face major concerns while deciding the Future Tours program starting next year.
During the first match of the three-Test series between England and New Zealand, Barkley said on the BBC’s ‘Test Match Special’ programme, “Every year there is a tournament of women’s and men’s cricket. In addition, the domestic league continues to grow. Due to this the bilateral chain is getting shorter. This will have unfortunate consequences, from both the perspective of playing experience as well as the revenue of those countries which do not get much play opportunities especially against teams like India, Australia or England. Test cricket will remain an integral part of the game in the next 10-15 years but the number of matches may be reduced.”
The ICC chairman also indicated that it will not affect cricketing giants like India, Australia and England. Barkley also said that the Test format is not developing as fast in women’s cricket. He said, “The domestic structure required from grassroots level to play Test cricket is not present in any country. I don’t think the Test format is developing that fast in women’s cricket.”
