FTP for next 4 years

[Kriterion_BD]

http://icc-live.s3.amazonaws.com/cms/me ... 202014.pdf

So someone post it on PP forum. ZIM have 21 Tests lined up so far. Tour to India in 2019, hosting India next year. Aussies will tour for Tests also.

The next test series is in Jan 2016...3 tests in Bangladesh again!!

[zimbos_05]

Having an FTP is irrelevant. With the way things are going we may not have a team.

[brmtaylor.com admin]

That is a pretty ridiculous schedule truth be told. Let's hope it's wrong.

• 2015 and 2017 are basically wastelands. 4 match series against India and NZ? What a waste. Scrap the Twenty20's and turn it into a tri-series ala Australia/SA last year or the Videocon series in 2005 and challenge NZ to a one off Test rematch at Queens.
• No Tests at all in 2015 - we should be having around 6-8 Tests per year. 2016 looks like the only year with a proper amount of cricket being played.
• Besides Bangladesh, we don't have any tour anywhere until the 2017-18 season
• Surely SA can help us out with a tour before 2018! A one-off preparation Test before England's tour of SA in Dec 2015 would be a good start. To CSA's credit they've made the offer before; but get it on paper now so that ZC can't pull out of it.
• CA should come to the party too - they were part of the whole "let's revolutionise cricket" thing with BCCI and ECB so they could afford to be charitable towards ZC in the form of a tour at some point. Bangladesh get a Test tour to Australia in August 2017 - where's the love for ZC? I'd propose that series becomes a tri-series with Zim/BD/Aus and then CA could get the commercially unviable series out of the way in one hit.
• No series against England but that's not a surprise.
• No away series against Pakistan in the UAE? PCB are playing a game; they'd gladly host Zimbabwe in Pakistan but Zim wouldn't be considered a good enough team to "waste" an international series on in UAE. Which is stupid and unfortunate given the result of the last Test series we played against them.
• No away series in NZ is a shame - they have been good friends of ZC in the last few years. I thought they may have squeezed in another 1 Test / 3 ODI series towards the end of the decade out of compassion.
• Away series against West Indies wouldn't hurt. The ideal time would be a 3 ODI affair in a few months time. (WI are scheduled to play 3 Tests against England and 2 against Australia with a 3 week gap - reckon there's a good chance a three game limited overs series over there, even against Zim, would attract bigger crowd numbers than 5 Tests against Eng and Aus combined).

ZC don't have to ask for a lot. A few scraps here and there... 3 match ODI series, or a one-off Test... would be enough to add some colour to what is a very sparse schedule. How do they expect to keep players interested when the time between Tests against a team other than Bangladesh is two years. Pretty much the only thing ZC can offer the players is a chance to play Test cricket and unless they start getting a bit creative with their scheduling, well they won't even be able to offer that. If they are not getting 6-8 Tests a year they aren't doing it right. If finances are an issue they need to be more aggressive in convincing other teams to host them (particularly CSA/CA/NZC).

2015:

World Cup
India tour of Zimbabwe (3 ODIs, 1 T20)
New Zealand tour of Zimbabwe (3 ODIs, 1 T20)

2016:

Zimbabwe tour of Bangladesh (3 Tests, 5 ODIs, 2 T20s)
World Twenty20
India tour of Zimbabwe (1 Test, 3 ODIs)
New Zealand tour of Zimbabwe (2 Tests)
Sri Lanka tour of Zimbabwe (2 Tests, 3 ODIs, 1 T20)

2017:

Zimbabwe tour of Sri Lanka (2 Tests, 3 ODIs)
West Indies tour of Zimbabwe (2 Tests)

2018:

Zimbabwe tour of Bangladesh (ODI Tri Series w/Sri Lanka)
Australia tour of Zimbabwe (2 Tests, 3 ODIs)
Pakistan tour of Zimbabwe (2 Tests, 3 ODIs, 2 T20s)
Zimbabwe tour of South Africa (1 Test, 3 ODIs, 1 T20)

2019:

Zimbabwe tour of Bangladesh (3 Tests, 3 ODIs)
Zimbabwe tour of India (1 Test, 3 ODIs)
World Cup

[eugene]

I am sure more will be organised once the world cup is over.

[Kriterion_BD]

That is just for 4 years. So in an 8 year period Zim will get about 40 tests. That's about 5 a year which is more than Zim are getting now and equal to what BD have had the past 5 years. If you look at it, top teams like India and England are playing 12-13 tests a year, Pakistan 10, and BD about 8. Thus 5 a year for Zim sounds about right. In an ideal world everyone would play the same number but that's never been the case in cricket.

Also tours with Aus and Pak are scheduled in the second half, I'm quite sure. All in all not bad.

[CrimsonAvenger]

and BD about 8. Thus 5 a year for Zim sounds about right

Why would it be right for BD to play 8 tests on an avg but 5 for Zim?

[Kriterion_BD]

and BD about 8. Thus 5 a year for Zim sounds about right

Why would it be right for BD to play 8 tests on an avg but 5 for Zim?

Because England/Australia are playing 12-13 tests per year.

[jaybro]

Zimbabwe and BD should be playing 8 tests a year minimum which isn't hard just two home series and two away or two longer home series and one away ......

If Ireland gain test status both Zim and BD will more than likely play them more often than the top nations .....

I'm actually hoping Ireland get test status so we get more tests ( as long as we don't loose it ) .....

[zimstarr]

and BD about 8. Thus 5 a year for Zim sounds about right

Why would it be right for BD to play 8 tests on an avg but 5 for Zim?

if they ever win a test series in zim then they will get eight tests right now they cant beat any team away

[Googly]

I'm starting to think that the plan is to have a B test pool that play each other in an endless loop. Bangladesh, Ireland and Zim, with the odd game against a charitable bigger nation wanting to get some confidence back. There is no danger that our kretinous bunch of administrators could organize 5 tests a year.