Sri Lanka, Pakistan agree to have points system for England tour

Sri Lanka Cricket and the Pakistan Cricket Board have agreed in principle to use a points based scoring system for their upcoming tours of England later this year.

The proposal was initiated by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), who implemented the system successfully in the Women’s Ashes contest.

Sri Lanka will tour England to play three Test matches, five One-Day Internationals and a Twenty20 International while Pakistan will play four Tests, five ODIs and a T20I during their visit.

In the points based system, four points are likely to be given to a Test victory, two points each for winning ODIs and T20Is.

The news was confirmed by an ECB spokesperson who told ESPNcricinfo that further details will be released by the board soon.

“We have received an agreement in principle from the boards of both Sri Lanka and Pakistan and will release further details of the proposal in due course,” said the ECB spokesperson.

England’s vice-captain Joe Root feels that the points based system will be very competitive and give more importance to all the formats of the game.

“Whatever it is, it’s going to make it extremely competitive and it might bring all three formats together a little bit more,” said Joe Root during an Investec golf day last week.

Ben Stokes on the other hand was less supportive of the system, especially if it will be implemented in the men’s Ashes contest.

“I think it would be rubbish,” said Stokes.

“They’ve changed a lot of things, but Ashes is Ashes, it’s a massive series for England and Australia and I don’t see why it should get changed.

“People who watch the game and follow the game, especially in the Ashes, would get a little bit like ‘why are we doing this?’ and I’d probably be in the same boat.”

Wisden editor Lawrence Booth had suggested the implementation of such a points based system in this year’s Editor’s Notes.

© Cricket World 2016