FICA’s Tim May says the ICC’s Future Tours Programme (FTP) is a ‘disaster’ which will leave the world’s top players ‘exhausted’.
And he warned players could strike over the packed international schedule.
May told The Wisden Cricketer magazine: “The FTP is a disaster because it puts no upper limit on the amount of cricket that can be scheduled. There are five or six guys in the five leading sides in the world who play Tests and one-day internationals and they are being flogged.
“They are the ones who make the difference between a 10,000 crowd and a sell-out; they are the ones who the broadcasters and commercial partners pay for. They are exhausted and they are not going to take much more.
“The militancy of the players depends on the issue but, if there is anything that will force the players to take the ultimate step of industrial action, it’s the Future Tours Programme. I’m not saying it is about to happen but all the ICC has delivered is a minimum guideline for the amount of cricket. There is nothing to stop individual boards arranging extra series on top of that in the FTP. We understand it’s already happening. It is a mess.”
Seven of the ten Test-playing nations now have player associations affiliated to FICA and May expects the remaining three – Pakistan, Sri Lanka and crucially India – to have signed up if not by the start of the Champions Trophy in October, then soon after.
The chief executive of the Federation of International Cricketers’ Associations (FICA) has blasted the sport’s world governing body’s new international schedule.
