'Players may opt for Twenty20 leagues' - May

The rapid rise of Twenty20 leagues will soon force international players to choose between their countries and private franchise-based Twenty20 events, the Federation of International Cricketers' Associations (FICA), has warned. Tim May, FICA's chief executive, said "more and more players" have stated in surveys conducted by the association that they have "less of an attachment" to international cricket with the arrival of tournaments like the IPL.

In an interview to Cricinfo, May said the ICC and its members should rework their Future Tours Programme (FTP) - the current version lapses in 2012 - to reduce international fixtures and create windows for domestic events such as IPL, which involves international players.

"Simply, something must give or players will be faced to make a decision between representing their country and playing in franchise-type Twenty20 events," May said. "A healthy balance of optimising commercial revenues and player workload needs to be set by the ICC and its members in order for international cricket to retain its attractiveness to players. The more Twenty20 events that are programmed in any calendar year, the easier it will be for players to turn their back on international cricket.

"The trend that we observe, through our surveys of players, is that more and more players state that they have less an attachment to international cricket with the emergence of competitions such as IPL. More and more cricketers are frustrated with the clustered international calendar and the time that is being spent away from wives, families and friends."

The international cricket calendar will soon be dominated by at least five Twenty20 leagues involving international players - IPL, P20 in England, Southern Premier League (SPL) involving South Africa, Australia and New Zealand, Champions League, a possible IPL Season 2 and ICC events - and they will have to be accommodated along with Tests and ODIs.

May also said the FICA was concerned about the new ICC Anti Doping Code that has been modelled on norms specified by the World Anti Doping Agency (WADA). He said that the new ICC code, which came into force from January 1, has a "high, inherent risk" of catching players who aren't "administratively inclined".

"The ICC Anti Doping Policy now includes, as per a mandatory instruction from WADA, a requirement for players named in an 'International Registered Testing Pool' to provide whereabouts information," May said. "This requirement requires players to inform ICC 90 days in advance (each quarter) a location and time that they will be available each day in that quarter for testing. If the player is not in the location at the time specified -- the player will have a strike recorded against his name. Three strikes and the player will have breached the code and can face a two-year suspension from the game."

Such a system has also raised concerns of privacy among players, May said. "Obviously, there are concerns on a privacy level and also concerns on a practical level - the administration responsibility is extreme and the whole system, whilst designed to catch the drug cheat, has a high inherent risk of catching athletes that just aren't administratively inclined."

Then again, at a time when cricket's headed for "an exciting future", May said, the ICC should also give FICA a more important role in the game's governance, possibly in its all-powerful executive board. He said the ICC board, which comprises senior ICC officials, and representatives of its 10 Full Members and three associates, is "full of conflicts of interests".

"FICA have been staunch critics of the governance structure of the ICC for a long time," May said. "It's full of conflict of interests and doesn't contain a healthy balance of skills to address the key areas of both sport and commercial issues. Rarely are decisions made in the interests of the game as a whole - they are typically made on "party lines" and what is best for that particular directors' constituency."