How International Cricket Schedules Are Planned: FTP and Bilateral Agreements
International cricket scheduling is governed by the ICC's Future Tours Programme (FTP) — a multi-year framework of bilateral series commitments between member boards. This article explains how the FTP works, why some series are more commercially important than others, how boards prioritise Test cricket vs limited-overs, and the challenges of fitting ICC events into an increasingly packed calendar.
What the FTP Is
The Future Tours Programme (FTP) is the ICC's scheduling framework that plans international cricket across a rolling 4-8 year cycle. It specifies which teams will tour which countries, in which formats, and approximately when. The FTP is negotiated between cricket boards (England Cricket Board, BCCI, Cricket Australia, etc.) with the ICC acting as the coordinating body. The FTP ensures every full ICC member country plays against every other member country regularly across all three formats (Test, ODI, T20I). Without the FTP, bilateral series would be arranged ad-hoc, risking that smaller cricket nations rarely face top-ranked opponents because larger boards would prioritise commercially lucrative series.
Commercial Priority in Scheduling
Not all series in the FTP carry equal commercial weight. Certain bilateral series generate far more television revenue, sponsorship income, and ticket sales than others: England vs Australia (The Ashes), India vs Pakistan (only at ICC events, not bilaterally), India vs England, India vs Australia, and England vs South Africa. These series are scheduled more frequently and for longer duration (5-match Test series rather than 2-match) because they generate the broadcast rights income that funds the broader global cricket ecosystem. Smaller cricket nations benefit indirectly — the profits from India-England series fund ICC distributions to Associate Member countries that cannot generate their own broadcast income.
FTP and ICC Events Coordination
The FTP must be planned around the ICC's event schedule — T20 World Cups, ICC Cricket World Cups, Champions Trophies, and the World Test Championship cycle all require window allocations. The ICC holds major events typically every 2 years, requiring 4-6 weeks of schedule space that no bilateral series can occupy. The World Test Championship (WTC) cycle also creates structure within the FTP: all bilateral Test series in the WTC period contribute points toward the WTC table, meaning bilateral scheduling is now partly optimised for WTC point accumulation rather than purely commercial considerations. This creates occasional tensions: a board might prefer to schedule a 5-Test series for commercial reasons, but the WTC points-per-match structure incentivises a different number of matches.
Frequently asked questions
Which countries play the most international cricket?
India, England, and Australia play the most international cricket by number of matches — driven by: their large domestic audiences (India's 1+ billion cricket-following market is uniquely valuable), their historical roles as cricket's founding nations, and the broadcast rights value their series generate. India in particular plays international cricket across all three formats throughout the year, with the BCCI's scheduling demands reflecting India's unique commercial position. Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and the West Indies play somewhat fewer matches due to scheduling windows and lower broadcast rights values per series. Associate Members (Ireland, Scotland, UAE, Nepal, etc.) play far fewer matches — primarily ICC qualifier events and bilateral series with nearby Full Members.
Can a cricket board refuse to tour another country?
Yes, in principle — but refusals are politically sensitive and financially significant. The FTP commitments are agreements between boards, and refusing a tour breaks those agreements, potentially triggering financial penalties or ICC sanctions. Legitimate grounds for refusing include security concerns (Pakistan's tours were refused by many boards post-2009 until security was re-established), government restrictions (India-Pakistan bilateral cricket is prevented by the BCCI's and Indian government's policies toward Pakistan), or force majeure events (COVID-19 cancelled many scheduled tours). A board that refuses a tour without legitimate grounds risks its relationship with the ICC and other member boards, potentially affecting future scheduling of lucrative tours to their own country.
How does the FTP affect the World Test Championship?
The WTC uses bilateral series scheduled in the FTP as its match framework — each bilateral Test series within the WTC cycle contributes WTC points based on match results. The FTP determines which series are WTC-eligible (Test matches between Full Members), and the ICC tracks points from those results. The WTC cycle lasts approximately 2 years before a Final is played between the top-two WTC table teams. Since all FTP bilateral Tests are WTC-eligible, the scheduling of the FTP — which teams play whom, when, and how many Tests — directly determines the competitive landscape of the WTC. A team that happens to be scheduled for many more Tests in a WTC cycle against weaker opponents may accumulate more WTC percentage points than a team with fewer, harder-scheduled series.