The Future Tours Program for 2023-2027,co-ordinated by the ICC but essentially a patchwork of bilateral agreements between its member countries,has reduced context around international matches by killing off the 50-over Super League intended to work as a qualifying system for World Cups. Twenty20 internationals are similarly untethered.
That means Cricket Australia has greater flexibility to plan something like a carpet of matches against England and India at home and away,splitting Test and white-ball tours to ensure content against its most lucrative opponents every year.
Australia will play a total of 52 bilateral matches against England and India in all formats over the FTP period,as opposed to 83 games against all other countries combined. In the longer 2018 to 2023 cycle,Australia scheduled 68 games against England and India as opposed to 106 games against the rest.
In Test match terms,this means 20 Tests against England and India and 20 against other countries over the period,against 18 and 26 over the previous cycle.
Calculated as days of content,the unevenness becomes clearer:132 days of red and white-ball cricket (about 46 per cent of the total) against England and India,and 158 days versus the rest of the world. Between 2018 and 2023,that ledger stood at 140 England and India days (about 40 per cent) versus 210 against others,before COVID-19 forced numerous postponements and reshuffles.
These are the scheduling balances that have bankrolled Australian cricket for quite some time. As an example,Michael Clarke played 57 of his 115 Tests against England and India,while for Nathan Lyon it has been 50 of 110.