The World Cricketers’ Association (WCA), a body that represents cricketers’ associations of various countries (barring the game’s financial engine India), has come up with an idea of 84 days of uninterrupted international cricket, free from T20 leagues such as the IPL, to “develop the game in a better way”.
The WCA report – “Protecting History, Embracing Change. A Unified Coherent Global Future” – is the culmination of a six month review of cricket’s global structure, led by a multi stakeholder sub-committee chaired by Paul Marsh, and in conjunction with The Sports Consultancy.
The Report:
*Draws on interviews with 64 senior game stakeholders, including players, administrators, and commercial and media partners, in addition to the compilation of data from various experts
*Focuses on the ‘top of the game,’ where the best players compete, and on the cricket that funds the rest of the sport globally (ICC Events, bilateral international cricket, major T20 leagues)
*Covers both the men’s and women’s games – focusing on issues applicable to both, but at different stages of coming to pass
1. CRICKET’S DIRECTION OF TRAVEL
*Global cricket is shifting towards a ‘club v club’ based model – that is a multi-employer, transnational system for players, with T20 increasingly the dominant format globally
*Revenue is moving towards cricket with context, jeopardy, and calendar space – and away from bilateral international cricket
*Current scheduling and economic models embed inequity and lost opportunity – with an estimated:
*83% of global cricket revenue shared between three countries and 11 of the last 13 major ICC Events won by the same countries
*2% of global cricket revenue distributed to countries ranked 13 – 108
*10.5% of global cricket revenue shared with the players who help to generate it
2. MAJOR PROBLEMS IDENTIFIED
Whilst many of the shifts in cricket are positive, some significant problems with the global game across four areas have been identified by stakeholders. These require urgent addressing:
*Scheduling – Current global cricket scheduling is chaotic, inconsistent and confusing, limiting the overall quality of the product, and putting the future of the international game at risk
*Economics – Global cricket’s finances are not optimised, balanced or used effectively to achieve competitive balance and growth, resulting in the sport not reaching its global potential
*Regulations – Cricket’s global regulations are outdated for the current transnational era, with arbitrary restrictions and limited protections and security for players, and risks to game integrity
*Leadership – There is a lack of overarching leadership in the game providing global direction, leading to regional self-interest, short-term thinking and an imbalance of power
The Report makes a number of specific recommendations to address these problems across the following four areas, guided by principles:
Scheduling
Cricket’s global schedule should align international and domestic formats to drive growth, ensuring all matches have clear context and purpose, through:
Simpler, easier to follow global calendar and international competition structures – which should apply from 2028 and 2029 onwards. This requires more centralised management of the schedule
Scheduling windows for ‘Core International Cricket’ – which should be implemented to cover one match per format against all other teams within consistent divisional championships with promotion and relegation, culminating in qualification for existing pinnacle ICC events across two year cycles
This will allow international cricket to co-exist with the growing DT20 leagues – rather than compete with them, thereby ensuring its future survival. It will also ensure most of the calendar remains for the market to continue to evolve and innovate
Economics
Cricket’s financial structure should support global growth and competitive balance, through:
A centralised Global Growth and Development Fund – to be established, underpinned by pooled rights model applicable only to Core International Cricket, to fund Core International Cricket and other global initiatives
ICC revenue distribution – occurring within minimum and maximum parameters
Stronger regulation and accountability – on how distributed money is spent in all countries
Player revenue sharing parameters – to be applied in all sanctioned cricket
Regulations
Cricket’s global regulations need to reflect the new transnational reality to protect the game and people in it, through:
Fit for purpose global regulations for professional cricket – developed to establish modern global calendar, player movement and professional cricket standards
Leadership
Global cricket needs to come together with clear leadership to reflect the sport’s changing landscape and prevent fragmentation, through:
Modernising the ICC – to ensure it is empowered to lead the global game and built on shared ownership, independence, and representation reflective of the whole sport
Establishment of a Global Game Leadership Committee – as an interim step to make recommendations to the game and to the ICC
4. BENEFITS OF MAKING THESE CHANGES
The report highlights the expected stakeholder response, along with independent modelling that indicates proposed changes will have significant benefits for all stakeholders, including:
Survival of international cricket in more than just a few countries – the future of international cricket is at genuine risk. These recommendations would entrench a place for a base level of sustainable international cricket in the calendar
Increase in revenue – an estimated addition of more than USD 240M per annum into the global cricket economy, along with significant cost savings
Easier to follow cricket calendar – with greater consistency, meaning, jeopardy, and competition integrity
Enhanced global growth and competitive balance – through investment in men’s and women’s depth in international cricket
Greater ability for National Governing Bodies and domestic T20 Leagues to plan and structure high performance, contracting and player retention strategies
Enhanced player protections – reducing the need for players to choose between representing their countries and optimising their careers
WCA chairman Heath Mills thanked all contributors and stated: “This process has brought to light an almost game wide appetite for change and a need to address the significant issues with the game’s global structure.
“Whilst there is no silver bullet, the report defines the trends, and major issues facing the sport at global level, along with some recommended solutions, intended to be both aspirational and realistic. The players have an interest in the health of the game globally, and we look forward to discussing and debating the report over the coming months.”
Sub-Committee chair Paul Marsh noted: “On behalf of the sub-committee we thank the many people who care about the future of cricket and who have contributed to the process.
“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.
“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.”
Sana Mir, commentator and former Pakistan player said: “Cricket has an opportunity to come together and define a much simpler, clearer and more unified future across both the men’s and women’s games. This report needs the attention of anyone who cares about the future of cricket.”
WCA CEO Tom Moffat added: “Cricket is changing fast, but its transition is currently largely unmanaged at global level. There is an urgent need for cricket to reset and modernise its global scheduling, regulations and leadership to keep up with the pace of change and ensure a more balanced future.”
“Every cricket country is part of a global ecosystem, reliant on other countries and their players for their own success.”
Tom Harrison opined: “Cricket’s finances are not optimised because competition structures have become incoherent in the search for more short-term value. Cricket of consequence, rather than cricket for cricket’s sake is the key to addressing this.”
Player Observations
Laura Wolvaardt, South Africa captain, commented: “Our sport has so many great things going for it, but there is potential for it to be so much better, and we’re encouraging the whole game to come together and help it to achieve its global potential.”
Rashid Khan, Afghanistan captain, opined: “Cricket has given me so much and I want to see it be strong and sustainable in more than just a handful of countries. We’re urging the game’s leadership to act on the information and suggestions contained in this report.”
Pat Cummins, Australia captain, noted: “We need to step into our future as a sport, but there are some important parts of our history, and in particular international cricket, that we want to see protected and thriving into the future.”
Heather Knight, England captain, added: “As players we understand our responsibility to the game, and we have an interest in it being successful. A unified sport is going to achieve better outcomes than a fragmented one.”
Global Future Sub-Committee
Paul Marsh chair (former ACA CEO and current AFLPA CEO)
Sanjog Gupta (CEO – Sports, JioStar)
Tom Harrison (former ECB CEO and current Six Nations CEO)
James Kitching (former director of Regulatory, FIFA)
Tony Irish (former CEO SACA and executive chairman of WCA)
Sana Mir (former Pakistan captain)
Ex Officio: Tom Moffat (WCA CEO), Stephanie Bond (WCA head of Legal), Cameron Borgas (WCA head of Player and Member Operations)
