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The decision of the International Cricket Council (ICC) Executive Board to endorse the Future Tours Programme (FTP) six-year cycle has led to growing concerns among the players about the heavy workload being imposed on them by the game’s world governing body.

Pakistan skipper Inzamam-ul-Haq confirmed at the captain’s meeting held in Sydney last year the general consensus had been to ask the ICC to make one team play a maximum of 25 to 30 One-day Internationals (ODIs) in a calendar year.

“I don’t know what happened about that decision. But I would like to have a look at the FTP and see just how many matches we’ve to play in the coming years. There is no doubt we have already been playing a lot of matches,” he said.

Sri Lankan skipper Marvan Atapattu thinks likewise and it’s not surprising that both he and Inzamam have faced back problems in recent months owing to non-stop cricket.

Sri Lankan coach Tom Moody also made the point here that the injuries to players were growing because of their heavy workload.

“There has to be some balance somewhere and the ICC must look at this seriously instead of just trying to schedule matches and make money,” another player said.

The reaction and concerns of the players is not unexpected given that with time the concept of a cricket season had been more or less eroded. These days with so many Test playing nations and the necessity to play every other team home and away within a specified period to satisfy the ICC’s wishes for a Test championship table, cricket is now “wall to wall”.

There are lots of entities involved with the game that are very happy with the situation, not least of all those cricket boards around the world that cater to huge markets.

Former West Indian bowler and commentator Michael Holding has also said the cricketers are unhappy with the current situation and although Test captains have pleaded to the ICC to not let things get out of hand these have landed on deaf ears. “It’s not a mere coincidence that there are less fast bowlers around these days and by fast I’m referring to bowlers over 90mph or 150kph.

“And when one does come along, he is either frequently missing from action through injury or cuts his pace through necessity to survive,” Holding noted.

He stated that he hoped that the ICC at some point gets the message and doesn’t end up killing the goose that lays the golden egg.

On Thursday the Federation of International Cricketers Association (FICA) also expressed surprise and disappointment with the ICC Board’s decision to endorse the FTP.

Tim May, FICA’s Chief Executive, told reporters the move “not only conflicts with volume and scheduling restraints that the ICC adopted as principles in the construction of the new six-year cycle, but appears to fly in the face of concerns expressed previously by the ICC’s president and CEO”.

He warned of the increasing dangers of player burnout. “More than ever we are seeing the game’s top players being forced to retire from the demands of one or the other form of the game as a result of the constant and unrelenting schedule.

“On top of this, injuries and forced absences to the world’s blue-ribbon fast bowlers are becoming more pronounced, and some teams are forced to apply rotational systems to ensure players are not flattened by these congested playing schedules. There needs to be a healthy balance between the commercial needs of the game and the needs of the players”.

He continued: “Instead of easing player workloads, the ICC programme commits more matches to be played at the Champions Trophy, more Full Member matches against Associate Countries, a further international (Twenty20) competition, regular Twenty20 matches on a bilateral basis and allows countries to fill in any other downtime that players may enjoy with series loosely tagged as ‘icon series’.

“In addition, the programme allows member countries to add further fixtures to the agreed programme without any limitation,” he expressed.

Source: The News

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