Pakistan’s FTP: The imperfect compromise that raises as many questions as answers

[MenInG]

Thanks to [MENTION=53290]Markhor[/MENTION] for his excellent and hard-hitting analysis on Pakistan's share of ICC's FTP programme for 2023-27

Quantity of matches

International cricket unlike most other sports is a bilateral arrangement between boards outside of the major tournaments. The choice of opponent, format and volume of cricket to be played is at the discretion of individual boards. The ICC only mandates that every team plays six Test series in the World Test Championship.

Therefore, the ICC Future Tours Programme often leads to accusations from fans that their team were short-changed, victimised or devaluing specific formats. Already the 2023-27 cycle has led South African pacer Anrich Nortje describing South Africa’s relatively sparse Test programme as unfair.

In an ideal world, there'd be a standardised programme of international fixtures where everyone plays each other home and away in an equal number of matches and series. But that programme simply cannot be sustained by the current economic model where Test cricket is financially unviable for most nations except when big boys India, England and Australia are in town.

Pakistan are uniquely disadvantaged with no bilaterals against India who are the game’s financial hub due to ongoing political tensions. Nevertheless, Pakistan will play 130 international matches between 2023-27 – the average number of games the rest of the world will be playing in their cycle. The numbers of Tests, ODIs and T20s that Pakistan play are also around the international average.

World Test Championship

The 2023-25 World Test Championship fixtures offer a stark contrast for Pakistan. Winnable home series against England (3), West Indies (2) and Bangladesh (2), and difficult tours of Australia (3), South Africa (2) and Sri Lanka (2) means Pakistan will need to see a significant improvement in their Test fortunes to even think of competing in the Final.

2025 is concerning for fans of Test cricket as Pakistan have only pencilled in 2 home Tests vs South Africa. While it’s understandable that Pakistan will have a heightened focus on white ball cricket with the hosting of the Champions Trophy, it would be disappointing if the PCB does not add to what would be the lowest number of Tests played since 2008 - a year when no Tests were scheduled whatsoever !

The 2025-27 WTC cycle is somewhat more promising with home series against New Zealand (2), South Africa (2) and Sri Lanka (2), and away fixtures in England (3), West Indies (2) and Bangladesh (2) presenting a good opportunity for Pakistan to win their first ever WTC.

Some fans are unhappy about the abundance of 2-Test series, but again without a cash injection from India tours that other nations can rely on to subsidise their Test programme, it reflects the economic realities of Test cricket in Pakistan which lacks the mass public appeal of ODIs and T20s. The scheduling of ICC events every year and the assortment of T20 leagues also curtails the space in the calendar for prolonged Test series.


PSL, global events and tri-series return to Pakistan

Fans of a certain vintage will fondly remember Pakistan dominating ODI triangulars in front of packed Sharjah crowds. They became an extinct species, giving way to T20 tri-series. However, an ODI tri-series is pencilled in for February 2025 against New Zealand and South Africa – coming after a winter ODIs vs Australia, Zimbabwe, South Africa and New Zealand, offering ideal preparation for a historic global event.

One of the annual ICC events includes the 2025 Champions Trophy – the first time an ICC tournament will be hosted by Pakistan since the 1996 World Cup. This would be the culmination of a long struggle to return international cricket to Pakistan, and hopefully, represent another major vote of confidence that Pakistan is a safe place to tour. Pakistan are the reigning Champions Trophy holders after their unforgettable 2017 triumph, so the 2025 edition is already eagerly anticipated.

This means pushing the PSL forward from its usual window to becoming the first franchise league to clash directly with India’s IPL with the event booked in between March-May.


Segmented tours

The practice of segmenting Test and white ball series continues. It’s truly maddening the administrators of the game continue to contribute to the premature retirements of all-format cricketers by approving these almost inhuman travel schedules. Ben Stokes caused shockwaves by announcing his departure from ODI cricket, and more are likely to follow.

For example, Pakistan are set to tour the Caribbean in summer 2025 for three ODIs and three T20s before returning the following summer to play two Tests. Sri Lanka tour Pakistan for three ODIs and three T20s in 2025 before returning the following year for two Tests. Where’s the logic in not combining these fixtures in one tour ? Not only does this increase the sport’s carbon footprint but prolongs the amount of time players spend away from families, impacting upon their physical and mental wellbeing.


Assisting the underdogs

Pakistan’s ongoing series against the Netherlands has been decried as a time wasting, minnow bashing exercise by some quarters. This is unfair. While partly a consequence of no bilateral engagement with India - PCB deserve plaudits for keeping its commitments to cricket’s so-called lesser lights. Pakistan play 12 ODIs and 18 T20s in total against Ireland, Zimbabwe, Afghanistan and Netherlands from 2023-27. Let’s not forget Pakistan once were minnows too.

 

[James]

India, Australia and England on a political level completely dominate cricket now. Test cricket could very well end up as these three nations just playing and touring each other repeatedly. We’re in a time machine and we’re going backwards.

 

[Saj]

Number of Tests in the 2023-2027 FTP Cycle:

England 43
Australia 40
India 38
Bangladesh 34
New Zealand 32
South Africa 28
Pakistan 27
West Indies 26
Sri Lanka 25
Afghanistan 21
Zimbabwe 20
Ireland 12

 

[James]

Number of Tests in the 2023-2027 FTP Cycle:

England 43
Australia 40
India 38
Bangladesh 34
New Zealand 32
South Africa 28
Pakistan 27
West Indies 26
Sri Lanka 25
Afghanistan 21
Zimbabwe 20
Ireland 12

Bangladesh 34, what’s happened there !

 

[hoshiarpurexpress]

Bangladesh 34, what’s happened there !

Their board is better at negotiating. Plus reflection of cricketing economy in each country.
Though must say, Really well done to Afghanistan board. They have 21 test matches, just 6 Test Matches less than Pakistan, the second most populous country where cricket is the only major sport.
Questions need to be asked off Rameez Raja.

Or, This is the way market in Pakistan is and passionate fans interacting and discussing Pakistan cricket on this forum and willing to invest time in Test Cricket of Pakistan are in minority.
Majority of fans are more into T20Is and ODIs and that is what PCB and Rameez are targeting. Pakistan are playing a lot of T20Is in the same time.

 

[hoshiarpurexpress]

Also, with India not playing Pakistan that is 8-10 Test Matches straight out of Pakistan's Test Tally.
35+ Tests is a decent number. PCB cannot do much there.

 

[Junaids]

I actually think that the 2023-25 program is made for Pakistan.

There are no decent spinners in the country, but there are no series which require spin bowling.

Away series in Australia and South Africa can be played with 3 quick bowlers plus 1 pace bowling all-rounder and one spin-bowling all-rounder.

In other words, you can lock in Shadab Khan at 7 and Faheen Ashraf at 8. If you add in naseem Shah at 10 and Shaheen Shah Afridi at 11, then all you require is a quick bowler of at least 6'3 in height who can bat at Number 9.

The same mix can play against England, West Indies and Bangladesh at home.

The only thing that I would suggest that's a bit different is playing against both West Indies and Bangladesh on neutral territory rather than in Pakistan.

Play one of them directly before the two Tests in South Africa - but at small South African grounds like East London and Kimberley.

And play against the other in Australia - but at Hobart or Cairns or Darwin. And directly before the series against Australia.

 

[hitthestump]

If Pakistan wants more test matches they need to improve the product.

I'd love to see Ramiz take a risk and start preparing green mambas for home matches or for the management to create a 'Bazball' style approach of attacking cricket.

It doesn't matter if Pakistan lose a few extra games than usual, what matter is Pakistan test cricket becoming entertaining again.

 

[U$ofA]

Their board is better at negotiating. Plus reflection of cricketing economy in each country.
Though must say, Really well done to Afghanistan board. They have 21 test matches, just 6 Test Matches less than Pakistan, the second most populous country where cricket is the only major sport.
Questions need to be asked off Rameez Raja.

Or, This is the way market in Pakistan is and passionate fans interacting and discussing Pakistan cricket on this forum and willing to invest time in Test Cricket of Pakistan are in minority.
Majority of fans are more into T20Is and ODIs and that is what PCB and Rameez are targeting. Pakistan are playing a lot of T20Is in the same time.

Unfortunately, I think this is true. I think the reality is that this forum is an echo chamber for a small percentage of of Pakistan fans that like test cricket. The echo is loud but misleading in terms of total overall number of fans that support tests.

How else to explain what the PCB is doing? The PCB is totally disregarding the actual plea's from the test fans. They think these fans are insignificant.

The financial realities excuse is just that...reality! Majority of Pakistan fans could not care less about tests.

 

[hoshiarpurexpress]

Unfortunately, I think this is true. I think the reality is that this forum is an echo chamber for a small percentage of of Pakistan fans that like test cricket. The echo is loud but misleading in terms of total overall number of fans that support tests.

How else to explain what the PCB is doing? The PCB is totally disregarding the actual plea's from the test fans. They think these fans are insignificant.

The financial realities excuse is just that...reality! Majority of Pakistan fans could not care less about tests.

Yeah I think this is true in India as well where IPL/T20 has a much much larger fan base. But, since out 1.4 Billion even if you get 50 Million interested in Test Cricket that is still almost 10 times the Potential Base in many other countries except Pakistan, which definitely can make Test Cricket more interesting.
Advantage with India is there is much more cricket craze as compare to Pakistan.
BCCI is really poor at marketing cricket, still they get viewers and dollars.

Pakistan will have to market the sport differently to increase interest in Test Cricket among general populace.

 

[giri26]

Yeah I think this is true in India as well where IPL/T20 has a much much larger fan base. But, since out 1.4 Billion even if you get 50 Million interested in Test Cricket that is still almost 10 times the Potential Base in many other countries except Pakistan, which definitely can make Test Cricket more interesting.
Advantage with India is there is much more cricket craze as compare to Pakistan.
BCCI is really poor at marketing cricket, still they get viewers and dollars.

Pakistan will have to market the sport differently to increase interest in Test Cricket among general populace.

If Pakistan work on their game and start producing results and stars, the interest will go up. If they prepare wickets like they did against Australia at home and lose series, generating interest will be difficult.

Test cricket recently in India gained some mileage because of Virat Kohli's support for the format and him wanting to make India one of the best Test teams. Something like that needs to happen with Pakistan for the fans to get invested in the game. If Pakistan can assemble a team which could beat any team on any surface, I will guarantee there will be more fans for the format.

 

[Titan24]

Nice read.

Segmented tours definitely don’t make much sense. A tour which is a week or two longer would be less demanding I believe then travelling all the way back home and then coming back acclimatizing to conditions and surroundings once again which can take a toll.

Regarding number of tests, yes I personally would want to see more. However, its also a fact that historically Pakistan has played 6-8 tests a year (Excluding bumper year or two). As a reference since 2007 Pakistan has played around 118 test matches which gives an average of 7.8 per year.
So its not hugely different but, yes efforts should be done to improve on this aspect.

SA, Srl, WI, NZ also have historically played test in almost similar average numbers. Since 2007 Srl, SA averaged around 9 per year, while WI and NZ around 8. This time around SA has a very slight decrease in the test average but, they are surprisingly playing least no of ODIs and 2nd least number of T20Is as well. Srl and WI would play 25 and 26 tests respectively.

Considering PCB is the 4th richest board one would expect more efforts towards bit more number of tests. I am hoping that a test series or two can be organized outside the FTP. On LOIs side things are in good order.

I believe the current revenue sharing model from ICC has played a big role in creating lack of feasibility for some boards who have to focus on leagues and other revenue sources from LOIs to make up decent revenue. As we can see with SA now launching their league while test cricket takes bit of a back seat. If the equal sharing revenue model would have been there as was the case previously then one can think that some countries could have added more tests within their schedule which is now cluttered with league windows and LOIs.

 

[MenInG]

Wasim Khan in an interview:

“In FTP, member cricket boards finalise the bilateral cricket and ICC only facilitates them. When you take a look at the upcoming future tours programme, there is actually more bilateral cricket happening in the next cycle. But the bigger challenge will be faced in the following cycle of FTP where we will have to make sure that domestic T20 league doesn’t take over everything else"

“The major chunk of FTP is based on bilateral cricket which is between countries to arrange. ICC’s role is merely to facilitate those conversations; to finalise the FTP, that’s mainly the responsibility of the relevant cricket boards.”

“I don’t think it’s the end of the world, as another issue with Test matches is that most of them end up with financial losses. Although it’s good for cricket fans that their team plays more Test matches, it’s not good to play 40 or 50 Test matches and end up making financial losses"

“Since Pakistan is not playing any bilateral cricket against India, there are issues of sustainability, so for the PCB, it’s hard to keep the balance between various formats. In my opinion, it is the right balance at the moment"

“When ICC speaks to the member boards on this issue, they express their willingness to continue playing ODI cricket. In the next cycle of FTP, we have ODI world cups scheduled. So we will see what happens post 2027 when the upcoming cycle of cricket ends"

 

[Savak]

The PCB in response to the criticism stated that it is not feasible for it to play, host test matches against minnow countries and they are not interested in any test matches that are not part of the World Test Championship. They also wanted a reasonable FTP where the Pakistani players will have a lighter workload and will be sufficiently well rested before major ICC competitions.

 

[Mp812]

The PCB in response to the criticism stated that it is not feasible for it to play, host test matches against minnow countries and they are not interested in any test matches that are not part of the World Test Championship. They also wanted a reasonable FTP where the Pakistani players will have a lighter workload and will be sufficiently well rested before major ICC competitions.

Whatever happened to playing with minnows to help them grow and to promote cricket?

I mean is that not the advise PCB and many posters here give to BCCI or Big3.

But when it comes to "do what you preach' scenario...i guess "financial feasibilty" takes priority and helping minnows takes backseat.

Besides what happened to "TEST MATCH" is best and pure format of cricket which needs to be promoted.

 

[MenInG]

According to the details, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) and the Cricket West Indies (CWI) have mutually agreed to postpone the series due to too much cricket being played.

Instead of January 2023, the West Indies cricket team will now play three T20Is in 2024, along with a Test series.

Moreover, discussions are ongoing between the two cricket boards and they will formally announce a decision.

As the ICC Men's ODI World Cup 2023 will be taking place in October-November next year, importance is being given to the 50-over format.

It will be the 13th edition of the men's Cricket World Cup, scheduled to be hosted by India.

 

[Nasty Naz]

Good to see that. It looked completely pointless a random 3 T20 series was scheduled in January when the ODI world cup is so close.

 

[MenInG]

PCB reschedules T20I series with West Indies

Lahore, 19 October 2022:

The Pakistan Cricket Board and Cricket West Indies have agreed to postpone the three-match T20I series, which was due to take place in January 2023 in Pakistan, to the first quarter of 2024.

The decision has been made considering 2024 is an ICC Men’s T20 World Cup year, with the event due to be hosted in the West Indies and USA in June 2024, and the shortest format matches will, therefore, help both the sides to prepare for the tournament.

The three-match T20I series in January 2023 is not part of the recently announced 2023-2027 ICC Future Tours Programme. The West Indies played their ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup Super League matches against Pakistan in Multan in May 2022, while the December 2021 series comprised three T20Is in Karachi.

 

[greatest]

ICC, I request you to limit test nations to only 6 teams and please somehow get rid of the West Indies. Please hire their players as cheerleaders in T20 tournaments.

If only 6 nations play, the game will be more exciting to watch and follow. Too many one-sided matches are giving the players and fans mental fatigue.

 

[Khabib]

ICC, I request you to limit test nations to only 6 teams and please somehow get rid of the West Indies. Please hire their players as cheerleaders in T20 tournaments.

If only 6 nations play, the game will be more exciting to watch and follow. Too many one-sided matches are giving the players and fans mental fatigue.

Great way to kill the sport

 

[greatest]

Great way to kill the sport

Quality should be the priority not quantity.
Btw, cricket will never ever be a global sport. You can count the number of expats who play in associate teams. Yes, you can only grow and inspire local talent in countries like Nepal but not in sporting powerhouses like Europe or Americas.
Ireland, Scotland and Netherlands have roots in cricket for the last 50 or more years (touring teams to England used to regularly play them) but still the game doesn't has a following like other sports.

 

[cricketAXEpert]

Number of Tests in the 2023-2027 FTP Cycle:

England 43
Australia 40
India 38
Bangladesh 34
New Zealand 32
South Africa 28
Pakistan 27
West Indies 26
Sri Lanka 25
Afghanistan 21
Zimbabwe 20
Ireland 12

Bangladesh is playing more test matches than Pakistan. Shame on Ramiz Raja & PCB for failing to secure more test matches. Pakistan is on same track as West indies without test matches, we will always be a 2nd rate white ball cricket playing nation.