ICC chief concerned for future of bilateral series

DUBAI: Bilateral series outside iconic ones like the Ashes and big-ticket tours involving India could be endangered in the future if they are not properly nurtured and marketed.
The alert has come from ICC chief executive David Richardson, who says the success of domestic Twenty20 leagues like the IPL, Big Bash and the growing Caribbean Premier League have made them more attractive to cricket fans and broadcasters.
To arrest the decline of bilateral series, cricket’s administrators are discussing the creation of qualifying leagues for both Test and ODI cricket as a possible solution.
“Apart from series such as the Ashes - which has an iconic, traditional status - and series between India and the top Full Members, many bilateral series are perceived as having little relevance,” Richardson told Cricinfo in London. “Attendances in most series, especially for Test cricket, have fallen and the revenues generated from these series are not growing.”
Richardson said the issue was once again high on the agenda at the ICC annual conference in Barbados in June and would take precedence at the next ICC Board meeting in October.
“The international cricket landscape has changed over the years and even more significantly in recent times with the advent and success of domestic Twenty20 leagues such as the IPL, the Big Bash and the CPL. These events are attracting widespread support from fans and hence the interest of broadcasters, sponsors and other commercial partners.”
Richardson revealed a possible solution the administrators were thinking about was creating qualifying leagues for both Test and ODIs, an idea that had the support of all the powerful members of the ICC Board. “Scheduling more tri-series, creating a brand around the FTP and around individual series, creating a fresh brand for the ODI format itself (World Cup Cricket for example, as Wally Edwards is proposing), creation of Test or ODI World Cup Qualifying leagues. These are all ideas that need to be considered and discussed. They have also been mooted before.”