India, Australia, England plan to stage four-nation quadrangular series from 2021 to counter ICC

New Delhi, December 24: The Big Three of Cricket i.e. India, England, and Australia boards have decided to host a quadrangular ODI series in the future to counter the International Cricket Council's (ICC) plans to organise another 50-overs world event to the next ICC Future Tours Programme.

The Big Three are mulling to rope in one more country to host a four-nation series from 2021. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) president Sourav Ganguly while interacting with media persons last week gave a hint for such a tournament that was later confirmed by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB).

"Australia, England, India and another top team will feature in the Super Series, which begins in 2021, and the first edition of the tournament will be played in India," Ganguly told media persons.

According to Ganguly, the BCCI has been in talks with the ECB and Cricket Australia about hosting such a tournament to which the other two boards have finally agreed.

It is understood that the tournament will be hosted by rotation every year (October/ November for India, September for England and October/ November or February/ March for Australia).

Later in a statement, ECB said, "We meet regularly with other leaders from the major cricketing nations to share learnings and discuss topics that impact our sport. A four-nation tournament was raised at a meeting with the BCCI in December and we are open to discussions with other ICC members to see if this concept can develop."

Apart from the regular T20 and 50-over World Cups, ICC had proposed to add another world event in its meetings held in October. This would mean its next eight-year cycle (2023 -2031) will have one ICC global event every year-two 50-over World Cups, four T20 World Cups and two 50-over tournaments. BCCI and ECB have opposed ICC's plans for that would hamper their bilateral calendar, which holds significant commercial value.