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Nagraj Gollapudi
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Osman Samiuddin
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Senior Editor, ESPNcricinfo- Osman spent the first half of his life pretending to discover reverse swing with a tennis ball half covered with duct tape. The second half of his life was spent trying, and failing, to find spiritual satisfaction in the world of Pakistani advertising and marketing. The third half of your life will be spent convincing people that you discovered reverse swing. And occasionally writing about cricket. And learning math.
The BCCI has suggested that the World Test Championship (WTC) be postponed as the world of cricket struggles with a schedule heavily disrupted by the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. India is currently at the top of the WTC points table, in a prime position to qualify for the final, but the BCCI suggested that the members agreed that all FTP until 2023 would need to be collectively reviewed “in order to reprogram the cricket that has been postponed due to COVID-19 as possible. “
As expected, no major decisions were made at the meeting called by the ICC Committee of Chief Executives via conference call, but the CEC agreed to both the T20 World Cup (to be played in Australia in October-November) such as the ODI Women’s World Cup 2021 The Cup (to be played in New Zealand next February-March) for now remains ongoing. What was agreed is that there will be regular updates, possibly once a month, to discuss the status of the T20 World Cup, an acknowledgment that the situation continues to evolve rapidly. According to an official, more clarity on whether or not the tournament continues can come in the next call, in four weeks, but could come in the next, in June.
The importance of the T20 World Cup, in particular, is clear. Most of the boards present are highly dependent on the income distribution of the ICC tournaments and a disruption of that equation, as Ehsan Mani warned, could have a massive financial impact on the boards. But in a sign of how unusual the current situation is and the problems in organizing a world tournament within that, Peter Harcourt, head of the ICC medical committee, made a presentation at the meeting and said the pandemic was “full of risks meaningful “and that decision-making would be much more difficult as a result.
Harcourt made a note of caution. “Our next step is to create a roadmap for the resumption of international cricket that will include criteria for decision-making and a checklist of what needs to happen.”
“This will consider everything from player readiness to government restrictions and warnings and bio-bubbles. The scale and complexity of starting cricket again cannot be underestimated, particularly with regard to a global event. The more teams, places and cities participate in an event, the greater the risk that must be evaluated and managed. “
And while it spans a two-year period and is played essentially bilaterally, rather than a one-time event, a decision on the WTC will also not be easy or will be made quickly. ESPNcricinfo understands that the BCCI was the only board of opinion that the WTC should be postponed for now until the sense of normality returns.
It’s unclear why Jay Shah, the BCCI secretary on the call, made the suggestion, halfway through in a league where each team plays six series in a two-year cycle with a maximum of 120 points per series in play. Not all teams have played the same number of series and some, like the West Indies and Bangladesh, have only played one series so far.
It is understood that Geoff Allardice, ICC Cricket General Manager, noted that it would be better to wait later in the year, once there is a better understanding of the amount of international cricket that has been discontinued, before both reviewing and reprogramming the WTC as well as ODI Super League, which is the way to qualify for the 10-team 2023 ODI Men’s World Cup.
In fact, it could be that the ICC waits until October, when the fate of the T20 World Cup will be clear, before making a final decision on the WTC and the ODI League, both initiated by the world body. to provide context for the five-day bilateral cricket and ODI, respectively.
“There was agreement that the discontinued FTP program would need to be collectively reviewed until 2023 in order to reschedule as much cricket as possible due to COVID-19,” said the ICC. “Discussions and decisions on this and the future of the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup Super Test Championship and Super League will take place at a later date when there is a greater understanding of the impact of the cricket that has been lost in the competitions “.
The meeting was attended by the CEOs of the 12 member countries and three associates, as well as Manu Sawhney, the CEO of ICC, Allardice and Chris Tetley, the head of ICC global events.
