T20 leagues are popping up faster than weeds in summer: Ian Chappell

A lot of international cricketers have recently been pretty vocal about the amount of cricket that is being played at the apex level. Cricketers like Ben Stokes and Quinton de Kock have already announced their retirements from one format of the game to manage their workload while Virat Kohli and Glenn Maxwell recently took a break from the game to manage their mental health.

With the emergence of multiple T20 leagues around the world, workload management has become an important part of the sport. To top that, ICC’s schedule has been tremendously tough for all the cricketers. Highlighting that former Australia skipper Ian Chappell pointed out the lack of communication between the administrators and players at the international stage.

The 79-year-old also wrote about T20 leagues popping here and there every moment. He believes that if it doesn’t change, there can be a massive explosion in cricket and the dynamics can change.

“There is also the glaring matter of the lack of partnership between players and administrators. Surely it shouldn’t be – as it is currently – a matter of the administrators deciding the programme without any input from international players.

If the international programme evolved as a result of consideration from such a partnership, then it would be much more palatable than the abomination that is the current schedule.

“T20 leagues are popping up faster than weeds in summer and an already implausible programme is headed for an almighty implosion,” wrote the former cricketer in a column for ESPNcricinfo.

Test status is best confined to the eight nations who have had a long-standing culture: Chappell

Chappell in his column also emphasised on the importance to preserve the longest format of the game. He stated that every country needs to build a strong infrastructure in order to play Test cricket and also mentioned that Ireland and Afghanistan currently don’t deserve to earn the Test status as they do not have the required infrastructure or facilities in place.

“Not many teams have or can afford to build such infrastructure, as it costs money rather than bringing a return on investment. T20 leagues, which produce a healthy return, are much more acceptable to administrators. Consequently, it makes no sense to reward Afghanistan and Ireland, two recent recipients of Test status, neither of whom have the grounds or the infrastructure to reasonably expect that status.

“Sadly, Test status is best confined to the eight nations who have had a long-standing culture of the format,” the 79-year-old wrote.