MCC panel wants to have a minimum of three Tests per series

The MCC World Cricket Committee has backed suggestions coming from various stakeholders in the cricket world – Cricket Australia, West Indian legend Clive Lloyd, Indian captain Rohit Sharma among others – to have a minimum of three Tests per series, going forward. India's Jasprit Bumrah celebrates with teammates after taking the wicket of England's Ben Foakes during the fourth day of the second Test In a WCC meet Chaired by former Sri Lankan captain Kumara Sangakkara held in Cape Town last week, it was recommended to the ICC to do away with one-off Test matches and two-Test series from the next Future Tours Programme 2028 onwards. Alarm bells were raised about the future health of Test cricket once it became known that Test powerhouse South Africa would be sending a squad of its non-contracted players – they are committed to playing Cricket South Africa-run SA20 league - to New Zealand in a two-Test series that comes under the World Test Championship cycle. “With this uncertainty identified and on the back of the momentum built through this year’s ICC Men’s T20 World Cup in the USA and Caribbean and the build up to the 2028 Olympics in the USA, the acceleration of the USA as a growth market for cricket would seem a natural consideration.” The MCC which also includes former cricketers, umpires and administrators Suzie Bates, Clare Connor, Kumar Dharmasena, Sourav Ganguly, Jhulan Goswami, Heather Knight, Justin Langer, Eoin Morgan, Ramiz Raja, Ricky Skerritt and Graeme Smith also called upon ICC member nations to ‘ring-fence a significant amount from their enhanced four-year ICC distributions to support the growth of women’s cricket’.