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Australian broadcasters argue for radical change
- Updated: August 13, 2016
Australian cricket’s major broadcasters Channel Nine and Network Ten have warned that international cricket runs the serious risk of being significantly devalued and overrun by domestic Twenty20 unless radical schedule changes provide league structures that viewers and fans can understand.
Speaking to more than 200 delegates at the Australian Cricket Conference (ACC) this week, Amanda Laing, the managing director of Nine, and David Barham, the head of Ten’s Big Bash League coverage, both stressed the need for change, in a panel discussion that also featured Geoff Allardice, the ICC general manager of cricket.
The ICC’s cricket and chief executives committees are presently working through the details of a plan to overhaul international cricket from top to bottom, with the introduction of leagues for all three formats, and two divisions for Test cricket. The boards of Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and India have expressed their opposition to change, ahead of meetings scheduled for September and October.
At the last ACC in 2010, major structural changes to Australian cricket – including fundamental reform of Cricket Australia, the governing body, and the introduction of the BBL – were expedited by a mood for change. This time around, the focus was on reforms at a more global level, though this battle must by its nature be fought at ICC committee and board levels.
James Sutherland, the CA chief executive, has been a longtime advocate of changes to the way international cricket is structured, first floating the concepts in discussion this year as far back as 2008. He said Laing and Barham had laid out quite a compelling case.
“We are conscious of some of the comments we’ve read in the media recently, but as far as I can see, those comments have been overmuch sharply focused on the concept of two divisions for Test cricket,” Sutherland said of the opposition to change. “This issue is far broader than that single issue around two divisions. We’re talking about three formats, we’re talking about a structure from which our corporate partners, our fans and our media partners can all understand the three formats, when …
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