The World Cricketers’ Association (WCA) has taken a bold step into cricket’s political arena, releasing its inaugural Global Game Structure Report—a sweeping analysis that lays bare the structural dysfunctions within the sport and calls for urgent reform.
The report, endorsed by player associations around the world, paints a picture of a system that is imbalanced, unsustainable, and increasingly hostile to players’ interests. Its findings point squarely at one root cause: a chaotic global calendar that prioritizes bilateral power over collective progress.
“The system is broken,” said WCA CEO Tom Moffat. “Without collective leadership, there is no coordinated decision-making and no prioritization of what’s best for the game as a whole.”
Moffat didn’t hold back in the report’s accompanying statements, adding:
“Cricket is changing fast, but its transition is currently largely unmanaged at global level. There is an urgent need for cricket to reset and modernise its global scheduling, regulations and leadership to keep up with the pace of change and ensure a more balanced future.”
“Every cricket country is part of a global ecosystem, reliant on other countries and their players for their own success.”
It’s a message Moffat has been building for months. In a recent Cricexec podcast, he emphasized how the lack of transparency and strategic alignment in international scheduling is hurting not only players, but fans and the sport’s future itself.
“There’s no long-term vision,” Moffat said. “Players are being asked to do more, with less support, and for competitions that are increasingly competing rather than complementing each other.”
WCA Chairman Heath Mills said the report emerged from a shared concern across the cricket world.
“This process has brought to light an almost game-wide appetite for change and a need to address the significant issues with the game’s global structure,” said Mills.
“Whilst there is no silver bullet, the report defines the trends and major issues facing the sport at global level, along with some recommended solutions, intended to be both aspirational and realistic. The players have an interest in the health of the game globally, and we look forward to discussing and debating the report over the coming months.”
“Control the calendar, control the sport”
Among the most striking data points in the report: nearly 60% of men’s and women’s international matches played in 2023 featured at least one second-string team. The message is clear—over-scheduling, player burnout, and the expanding reach of domestic T20 leagues are destabilizing the foundations of international cricket.
That dynamic was echoed in a recent Cricexec guest post by South African Cricketers’ Association (SACA) CEO Andrew Breetzke, who warned:
“If you control the calendar, you control the sport. Right now, that control rests with a few boards operating in silos, and it’s undermining the sport’s integrity.”
The WCA report pushes for a restructured, coordinated global calendar—one that balances international and domestic competitions, gives women’s cricket equal consideration, and builds a more sustainable commercial model for players and boards alike.
Sub-Committee Chair Paul Marsh, who led the report’s development, underscored the urgency of the moment:
“Whilst there are a number of positive trends in cricket, there is no doubt that global cricket is at an inflection point. Many of the issues highlighted in the report are challenging, but they need to be discussed if we are to create a more sustainable future in more than just a few countries.”
“Creating a clearer global calendar and incorporating more consistency across formats along with greater competition integrity and context for international cricket will benefit cricket and all of its stakeholders hugely.”
A call for collective governance
The report doesn’t stop at scheduling. It lays out a clear vision for reforming the governance of the game, calling for:
- A central governing structure with authority over the global calendar
- Minimum standards and agreements for domestic leagues
- Balanced and transparent revenue distribution
- Integrated player workload tracking across formats and leagues
These proposals echo growing sentiment across the cricket ecosystem. A recent Cricexec industry poll found that 78% of respondents believe the ICC should play a stronger leadership role in regulating the calendar—a finding that underscores how widespread the frustrations are, even among board and league executives.
Domestic leagues: Growth or fragmentation?
The WCA isn’t against the rise of domestic leagues—far from it. The report acknowledges their importance in expanding opportunities for players and fans, especially in emerging markets.
But the current growth is unregulated, and that’s where the problems lie.
“Leagues are here to stay—and they’re not the problem,” Moffat said. “The problem is that there’s no system sitting above them, making sure that the whole game functions as a coherent ecosystem.”
That lack of oversight is putting national team cricket at risk. As players increasingly choose club over country—often for reasons of financial stability or workload management—the once-clear hierarchy of cricket is blurring.
The report proposes standardizing minimum conditions and international windows for leagues, while ensuring player welfare is not sacrificed in the pursuit of profit.
Tom Harrison, the former ECB CEO and a contributor to the report, added a commercial perspective:
“Cricket’s finances are not optimised because competition structures have become incoherent in the search for more short-term value. Cricket of consequence, rather than cricket for cricket’s sake, is the key to addressing this.”
A unified message from players
The WCA’s report is unique in how strongly and publicly it centers the voices of current international players—many of whom are rarely heard in debates on governance and structure.
“Our sport has so many great things going for it, but there is potential for it to be so much better,” said South Africa captain Laura Wolvaardt. “We’re encouraging the whole game to come together and help it to achieve its global potential.”
Afghanistan’s Rashid Khan echoed that call: “Cricket has given me so much and I want to see it be strong and sustainable in more than just a handful of countries. We’re urging the game’s leadership to act on the information and suggestions contained in this report.”
“We need to step into our future as a sport,” said Pat Cummins, Australia’s Test captain, “but there are some important parts of our history, and in particular international cricket, that we want to see protected and thriving into the future.”
England captain Heather Knight added:
“As players we understand our responsibility to the game, and we have an interest in it being successful. A unified sport is going to achieve better outcomes than a fragmented one.”
Sana Mir, one of the report’s key contributors and a former captain of Pakistan, put it simply:
“Cricket has an opportunity to come together and define a much simpler, clearer and more unified future across both the men’s and women’s games. This report needs the attention of anyone who cares about the future of cricket.”
A moment of reckoning
Cricket is at a crossroads. With the sport’s inclusion in the 2028 LA Olympics, global growth is accelerating. But growth without governance can lead to chaos—and that’s exactly what the WCA is warning against.
Their report is a blueprint for change—but whether the powers that be will listen remains to be seen.
For now, the message from players is loud and clear: the game cannot continue down this path.
“This is about the future of cricket,” Moffat said. “And that future depends on all of us stepping up—players, boards, leagues, and the ICC—to create a structure that serves the whole game, not just parts of it.”
The WCA’s full report is available here and the accompanying press release is available here.
Name of Author: World Cricketers' Association
The World Cricketers’ Association (WCA) is the global body representing cricket players. It encompasses players from major cricketing nations through domestic associations and includes over 600 international players in its global commercial program.
