The England & Wales Cricket Board has finally received the welcome news with the agreement from this summer’s touring teams Pakistan and Sri Lanka to introduce a points-based system for their upcoming international fixtures.
England wants to copy the exact format from the women’s Ashes where points awarded for winning a Test, one-dayer and Twenty20 when they host Sri Lanka and Pakistan this summer. These will be added up and ultimately an overall winner will be decided. If the system is introduced it will be the first time men’s international cricket will experience this innovative system.
ECB hope the format will become popular with supporters and are they have already started talking to potential sponsors.
Initially, there were six points on offer for the one-off Test match in the Women’s Ashes, but it was reduced to four following the 2013-14 series in Australia, when England managed to retain the Ashes after winning the Perth Test despite losing both of the limited-overs series by 2-1.
With a probable 28 points to be available during the ten fixtures in Pakistan’s tour, but as the Tests scheduled to be played first, a 4-0 clean sweep for both the team would be enough to achieve 16 points and, along with it, the series.
However, the proposal has claimed a mixed reaction from England cricketers, especially those who might feature in all three formats.
“Whatever it is, it’s going to make it extremely competitive and it might bring all three formats together a little bit more,” said Joe Root.
But, his team-mate Ben Stokes looked less enamoured, particularly by the suggestion that the idea could ultimately be rolled out to the men’s Ashes.
“I think it would be rubbish,” he said. “They’ve changed a lot of things, but Ashes is Ashes, it’s a massive series for England and Australia and I don’t see why it should get changed.
“People who watch the game and follow the game, especially in the Ashes, would get a little bit like ‘why are we doing this?’ and I’d probably be in the same boat.”
It is actually the first step to try to give bilateral tours a bit more relevance and keep the public interest alive over a long summer.
England will play three Tests, five one-day internationals and one Twenty20 against Sri Lanka which will start at Headingley on May 19.
After the Sri Lanka series, Pakistan will arrive for a four-match Test series, five one-dayers and a Twenty20 ending on September 7.
Details are yet to be decided but teams could receive three points for a Test match win and two for a win in ODI and T20.