Two Test divisions, international windows, and India sharing their riches: Is this cricket’s future?

India would be compelled to share more of their riches with the rest of the world, Test cricket split into two divisions, and “core international cricket” ring-fenced across four windows each year under a raft of proposals to clean up cricket’s messy calendar.

The Global Game Structure Report was commissioned by the World Cricketers’ Association and helmed by AFLPA chief Paul Marsh, with input from the likes of Australian men’s and women’s captains Pat Cummins and Alyssa Healy; Sanjog Gupta, the chief executive of India’s biggest sports broadcaster, JioStar; and an unnamed IPL chief executive.

AFLPA CEO Paul Marsh.Credit: AAP

To protect international cricket, all countries would be bound to play a minimum of one match per format against each opponent in their division across a two-year cycle, with each series result counting towards league standings.

By these and other measures, the report claims that its changes to the cricket calendar can generate as much as $US246 million ($389 million) more in total revenue per year, and $US130 million more in international cricket revenue per year.

Past and present powerbrokers from Cricket Australia and the England Cricket Board were interviewed for the report, including new CA chief Todd Greenberg and his predecessor Nick Hockley, but the powerful Indian board was conspicuous by its absence – the BCCI does not recognise players’ associations.

Pointedly, the report calls for a complete reshaping of international and franchise cricket to complement one another, and kick-in for 2028 after the end of the current Future Tours Program in 2027, though the boards of India, Australia and England have already done broadcast and scheduling deals through to 2031. Franchise cricket has ballooned in recent years and currently overlaps with almost all international cricket.

While not mentioning it by name, the report also leaves room for new concepts like a Saudi Arabia-backed global T20 league by stating that “in the likely scenario that global cricket cannot come together to share revenue generated from existing lucrative cricket throughout the year more effectively in line with global objectives, then a new global cricket product may need to be created that achieves this”.

With numerous experts from soccer also involved in the project, it was always likely to advocate for calendar windows in line with the international windows structure of club soccer around the world.

Australian Test captain Pat Cummins.Credit: Getty Images

Those windows are limited to four per year, each of 21 days each, to be left clear for “core international cricket” with broadcast rights pooled. The remaining 281 days in the year – with the exception of scheduled World Cups – are described as “free market” time, with franchise leagues to dominate and players free to roam, though richer boards may still play more international matches.

Divisional structures are recommended for Tests (eight teams in the first division, four in the second), ODIs (three divisions of eight teams each) and T20Is (32 teams in four divisions), with promotion and relegation determined over two-year cycles.

Most contentious, however, is the suggestion that domestic T20 leagues share more of their revenue globally, in particular the IPL. “The IPL accounts for almost half the global cricket economy,” the report states “but shares only circa 0.3 per cent of revenue with other countries and less than 10 per cent with players”.

As an alternative, the report advocates for a system sharing “a standard contribution of a percentage of the global media rights each sanctioned [domestic] T20 league generates, or global licensing/sanctioning fee linked to turnover or other metric”.

“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,” Marsh said.

“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.”

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