International Cricket Council (ICC) released its Future Tours Programme from 2018 to 2023, on Wednesday. The schedule incorporates all three formats of the game for the men’s teams across the period of five years. It also includes the schedule for the inaugural ICC World Test championship and the 13-team One-Day league.
The Indian cricket team will make its debut in the Test Championship in July 2019 against West Indies on their turf. The nine top-ranked Test teams will participate in the inaugural edition of the championship, which will run from July 15, 2019 to April 30, 2021.
The dispute over where the final should be held, though, still persists. According to an ESPNcricinfo report, the ICC and most board members have agreed that the first two finals should be held in England, the country where the game originated.
However, the Indian cricket board wants the team that finishes at the top of the championship table to host the final. The venue hasn’t been specified in the FTP released by the ICC.
The 13-team ODI league will comprise 12 Test playing nations and the winner of World Cricket League Championship — Netherlands. India will take on Sri Lanka in the opener in June 2020. Every series will have just three matches and it will be held from 2020 to 2022.
The ODI League will also serve as a qualification for the 2023 World Cup to be hosted by India.
India, being hosts, and the next seven highest-ranked teams in the ODI league will qualify directly for the World Cup. However, the bottom-placed five teams will get a second chance to qualify through the ICC World Cup Qualifier.
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