ICC urged to 'standardise' tours to remove 'silly' Test itinerary contention

The International Cricket Council (ICC) has reportedly been urged to force a standardised tour schedule to remove the contention that has arisen over the itinerary of Test playing nations.

According to Sport24, there is an urgent need to change the itinerary of Test playing nations following South Africa and India coming at loggerheads at each other over the upcoming fixtures and the Indian Premier League (IPL).

Stating that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) had every right to complain about the 'silly' scheduling of seven ODIs against South Africa, the report said that that sort of workload is unfairly strenuous on players, adding that the ICC could standardise tours by making them consist of three Tests, three ODIs and two or three Twenty20s.

Calling the ICC to take charge and set firm guidelines, the report also said that the nations which do not abide need to be fined and punished, adding that standardised tours would benefit not only boards, but also teams who will all get an equal number of opportunities to test their mettle against each other.

According to the report, such tours are also ideal for fans whose interest is far more likely to remain on a series if it is compacted, adding that they can also remove bias towards smaller nations.

The report said that Tests are always at risk of being curtailed or moved and there will always be a bias towards bigger team which rake in the TV revenue without any sort of standard, adding that this could be addressed by giving teams a bigger percentage cut based on where they are ranked.

The report mentioned that a standard length tour would last for a maximum of six weeks, which would leaves 28 weeks for players to rest, spend time with their families and improve their domestic performances.