DUBAI: The International Cricket Council, on behalf of its Members, todayreleased the men’s Future Tours Programme (FTP) from 2018-2023. The FTP,which is available on *ICC websitelink>*, provides clarityand certainty around all bilateral international fixtures and incorporatesall three formats of the game.
According to *ICC link>*, the result ofa significant collective effort from the Members, with the support of theICC, the FTP focuses on bringing more context to bilateral cricket. A WorldTest Championship has been created along with a 13-team men’s ODI leaguethat will act as a qualification pathway for the ICC Cricket World Cup.
Nine top-ranked sides will participate in the inaugural edition of theWorld Test Championship, which will run from 15 July 2019 to 30 April 2021.The sides will play six series in the two-year cycle on a home and awaybasis against opponents they have mutually selected. The two top-rankedsides will then progress to the June 2021 final to decide the World Testchampions.
In addition, the 12 Test playing nations and the Netherlands, willparticipate in the 13-team ODI League, which will run from 1 May 2020 to 31March 2022 and all the sides will play eight series over a two-year cycleon a home and away basis against mutually agreed opponents.
This league will serve as a qualification pathway for the ICC Men’s CricketWorld Cup 2023. India (as host) plus the seven highest-ranked sides in theODI league as on 31 March 2022 will qualify directly for the ICC CricketWorld Cup 2023, while the bottom five sides will get a second chance toqualify through the ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier.
The principles followed by Members in the creation of this men’s FTP are asfollows:
– *Scheduling the appropriate amount of cricket in each format (home and away) for each Member;*
– *With matches scheduled at the preferred time of year in each territory;*
– *Inclusion of existing series that have already been committed to commercial partners (mainly in 2019-20);*
– *Providing optimum preparation for ICC Events by playing the same format immediately before the tournament;*
– *sufficient time for Members to schedule their preferred bilateral content outside of World Test Championship and ODI league;*
– *periods when individual Boards want to allow their national team players to be available to compete in domestic T20 leagues.*
ICC Chief Executive David Richardson congratulated the Members for theirefforts in the preparation of the men’s Future Tours Programme:
“The agreement of this FTP means we have clarity, certainty and mostimportantly context around bilateral cricket over the next five years. TheWorld Test Championship will get underway next year with the ODI leaguekicking off in 2020 as part of the qualification towards the ICC CricketWorld Cup 2023.
“Bringing context to bilateral cricket is not a new challenge, but with therelease of this FTP, our Members have found a genuine solution that givesfans around the world the chance to engage regularly with internationalcricket that has meaning and the possibility of a global title at the end.”
The structure of the men’s FTP (2018-23) includes:
– *ICC Cricket World Cup – 2019 and 2023*
– *ICC World T20 – 2020 and 2021*
– *World Test Championship*
– *Cycle 1 – 2019-2021 (final 2021)*
– *Cycle 2 – 2021-2023 (final 2023)*
– *All bilateral Tests, ODIs and T20Is outside of the above competitions*