Four-day matches "would not be a feature" of cricket's new Test championship due to a need to "ensure all games across its two-year cycle are scheduled for the same duration," according to Chris Barrett of the SYDNEY MORNING HERALD. Int'l cricket "is on the precipice of a new dawn" as the board of the Int'l Cricket Council meets in Auckland on Friday to "ratify the introduction of a World Test Championship" from '19 and a one-day league championship from '20. After years of "failed bids to execute change, the approval of the proposals would be a significant moment in the game's history" and there is confidence that "enough momentum has been gained to get them over the line." Cricket Australia CEO James Sutherland and CA Chair David Peever "have been prominent campaigners for the championship initiatives," which would see all matches count for points on league tables and "culminate in the leading two teams of the respective formats playing off in a final" (SMH, 10/12).
FOLLOW THE LEADER: The AFP reported a top ICC official "has urged cricket bodies around the world to follow Australia's lead and dramatically raise wages for women's players" to stop them from dropping out of the sport. Clare Connor, the former England captain who now heads the ICC's women's committee, said that other countries "must match Australia's eight-fold increase in wages." Connor said, "We are all going to think very seriously of how well our players are remunerated. Because if we don't look after them they will go and choose other sports or other professions and that will be a tragedy" (AFP, 10/12).
