The International Cricket Council (ICC), on Wednesday, released the Men’s Future Tours Programme (FTP) for 2023-27 cycle for all the 12 full members of the body. The 2023-27 cycle will see more international games as compared to previous cycle that ran from 2019-23.
The FTP lays down the international schedule, including all the ICC event and bilateral series. The 12 fill time members will play a total of 777 international matches, including 173 Tests, 281 ODIs and 323 T20Is in the 2023-2027 FTP cycle, compared to the 694 in the current one.
The cycle will see two editions of T20 World Cup and World Test Championship (WTC) and a single edition of Men’s Cricket World Cup and Champions Trophy each. India, Australia and England all will play five-match Test series included in the third and fourth editions of WTC.
ICC GM of Cricket Wasim Khan said: “I’d like to thank our Members for the effort that has gone into creating this FTP for the next four years. We are incredibly lucky to have three vibrant formats of the game, with an outstanding programme of ICC global events and strong bilateral and domestic cricket and this FTP is designed to allow all cricket to flourish.
“The landscape around the game is continuing to evolve and we will work closely with Members as we collectively adapt to that. We are committed to growing the game and giving more fans more opportunities to enjoy cricket, but are very mindful of the need to balance that ambition with the welfare of players.” The exact dates and venues of matches outside of ICC events are for the Members to announce in due course.
The former Australian skipper Ricky Ponting also applauded ICC’s decision to extent Gavaskar-Border Test series to five-match. He believes that the spectators love to watch the two giant teams clash in the purest format of the game. Moreover, both countries offer conditions contrasting to each other.
“I think spectators from Australia and India and probably anyone that loved the game around the world would have liked to have seen more Test matches between Australia and India, so absolutely I think it’s a fantastic initiative and more importantly, I think all the players will really enjoy that as well,” Ponting told host Sanjana Ganesan on The ICC Review.
