A two-year Test league is among the likely changes in the pipeline © Getty Images
International cricket has finally brought itself to the cusp of a radical shake-up of its calendar after administrators agreed on models with more context for all three formats. A two-year Test league, a 13-team ODI league, and a regional qualification process for the World T20 are likely to be ushered in from 2019, subject to the ICC Board approval.
At the end of a two-day meeting in Dubai on Friday, the Chief Executives Committee (CEC), tasked with creating structures for Test, ODI and T20 cricket that give meaning to every international match played, arrived at the proposals which will go the ICC Board in the next round of meetings in April. The ICC Board does sit on Saturday but much of that discussion is likely to be centre around a new financial model cricket hopes to implement.
If the CEC proposals are eventually approved in April, then from 2019 onwards cricket may see a rolling two-year Test league comprising a 9-3 format where the top nine Test countries compete among themselves and against the three lower-ranked teams comprising Zimbabwe and most likely Ireland and Afghanistan, depending on whether they earn Test status. It is understood the CEC also approved a three-year, 13-team ODI league, the culmination of which will see qualification for the 50-over World Cup, and a system of regional qualification tournaments through which teams attempt to qualify for a World T20.
And as the strongest signal yet that the short-lived era of the Big Three is well and truly over, the overseeing of this calendar will once again become the responsibility of the ICC.
More to follow …
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Source: ESPN Crickinfo