Fica, the collective union for cricketers worldwide, has welcomed a global push to introduce greater regulation for domestic Twenty20 leagues and warned inaction will only further weaken the sport.
At the International Cricket Council meeting in Kolkata next month, chief executives from the national boards will explore a possible framework to ensure domestic Twenty20 and international cricket can coexist and thrive.
Free agency, where players eschew national or domestic contracts to enter the year-round circuit of Twenty20 leagues, has dogged the West Indies for a decade. Now bigger nations such as England, where Adil Rashid and Alex Hales have recently become white-ball specialists, are becoming nervous.
“We have been predicting for years it will affect the bigger countries,” Tony Irish, the Fica chief executive, said. “It’s good there is an awakening of interest in this globally. What cricket needs is overall structural change and global regulation.
“If you just let it go with no regulation, everything will move to the leagues and the traditional landscape will get weaker and weaker. The majority of boards and players earn money from traditional markets and so we want to keep it strong.”
Ideas to be discussed at ICC level include mandatory compensation for the use of players by leagues and limits on how many tournaments cricketers under the age of 32 can feature in per year.
Irish warned the latter would invite legal challenges if simply applied to the current year-round Twenty20 circuit and instead advocates the introduction of dedicated windows to the calendar – another idea on the agenda – to free up time for internationals and prevent players having to decide between the two.
With such windows Twenty20 competitions would take place concurrently, but Irish said: “You have to go to the concept, so leagues compete against leagues rather than internationals. That’s how you will get the right balance.
“We survey our members to get insight and generally they want a balance – to play internationals, traditional cricket and T20 where possible. Some players will want more in one direction than the other but collectively we want a balance.”
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