An ICC Working Group Will Look Into Explosion Of T20 Leagues As Cricket Reaches ‘Biggest Moment’

An ICC working group will be tasked with addressing the explosion of T20 franchise leagues amid the “biggest moment in the sport’s history ” as the whims of cashed-up businessmen increasingly threaten the primacy of international cricket.

According to sources, ICC general manager Wasim Khan along with New Zealand chief executive David White and Emirates Cricket general secretary Mubashshir Usmani were named as working group members at last month’s ICC meetings in Dubai.

It had been mooted since fiery discussions at last year’s AGM in Birmingham over new cash-rich T20 leagues in South Africa and the UAE, which both launched in January.

The much-anticipated – and well-heeled – Major League Cricket in the U.S. will launch its first edition in July after the 18-day tournament was finally officially sanctioned, as I first reported recently.

Those three new T20 competitions have had significant financial backing from owners of the Indian Premier League – the sport’s biggest and richest league boasting a $6 billion media rights deal.

IPL powerhouse Mumbai Indians, owned by Mukesh Ambani who is currently the 13th richest person in the world according to Forbes, have teams in each of those leagues. They represent New York in MLC and sport the dubious name of MI New York.

These well-remunerated leagues are further straining a saturated cricket calendar already squeezed with the IPL essentially granted a dedicated window in April and May.

There is uncertainty where this is all going, how many more leagues will emerge and whether smaller Full Member nations will be able to keep afloat as their players seek significantly more money from these leagues.

T20 franchise leagues need to be sanctioned by local governing bodies and approved by the ICC board.

A recent report in The Age/Sydney Morning Herald over Saudi Arabia seeking to set up the world’s richest cricket league with the blessing of IPL owners set off alarm.

Australian journalist Geoff Lemon in The Guardian wrote a withering piece over Saudi Arabia’s apparent sportswashing campaign which if infiltrated into the sport could be the death knell of international cricket.

Saudi Arabia’s grandiose plans were not discussed at last month’s ICC meetings but, according to sources, its cricket governing body has been deemed to be non-compliant over ICC membership criteria.

Saudi Arabia, like USA Cricket, might be ‘put on notice’ at the ICC’s AGM in July if the issues are not resolved, according to sources.

The potential entrant into the T20 franchise merry-go-round is on the heels of the contentious new league in the UAE, which triggered heated debate on cricket’s future.

There was particular focus on teams in the league – dubbed ILT20 – being mostly filled with overseas players in a point of difference to established T20 competitions.

Usmani, the head of Emirates Cricket which sanctioned the privately owned ILT20, will be the voice of the Associate nations on the working group.

He told me last year amid the outcry over the ILT20 that “it is time Associates found innovative, sustainable ways to guaranteeing their own reliable revenue streams”.

There will naturally be eye-rolling over another working group set up, especially with the ICC seemingly almost powerless to stop those with deep pockets from doing what they want.

But – along with the recently formed working group looking into the Future Tours Programme – it will at least ensure these issues are at the forefront of the power brokers as the sport reaches a pivotal juncture.

“The reality is this is probably the biggest moment in the sport’s history, whereby a challenge to international cricket is very, very real,” Cricket Ireland high performance director Richard Holdsworth told me.

While the focus has been on the availability of the world’s top players, the smaller countries are similarly facing the pinch and don’t have depth to rely on. Quick Josh Little became the first Irish player to receive a deal in the IPL when he was picked by Gujarat in December’s draft.

“He’s played just two out of 23 days in international cricket for us in the last four months. That’s not sustainable from an investment point of view,” Holdsworth said.

“We’re paying this guy good money in terms of our structure and he’s come through our system. We’ve developed and invested in him since a young age.

“Our belief is that it’s (IPL) good for his development and will help Irish cricket for the long term, but what we’re grappling with is that we need our best team on the park.

“We can’t go to Bangladesh and Sri Lanka (whom Ireland have been playing in a return to the Test format) and expect to win if we don’t have our best team on the park.”

Having been upended by new cashed-up leagues and with the promise of more to come, there is a sinking feeling that the writing is on the wall for international cricket.

“The game needs to do something about it (T20 leagues). But it might be too late,” Holdsworth said.