'Players may opt for Twenty20 leagues' - May

The rapid rise of Twenty20 leagues will soon force international players to choose between their countries and private franchise-based Twenty20 events, the Federation of International Cricketers' Associations (FICA), has warned. Tim May, FICA's chief executive, said "more and more players" have stated in surveys conducted by the association that they have "less of an attachment" to international cricket with the arrival of tournaments like the IPL.
In an interview to Cricinfo, May said the ICC and its members should rework their Future Tours Programme (FTP) - the current version lapses in 2012 - to reduce international fixtures and create windows for domestic events such as IPL, which involves international players.
"Simply, something must give or players will be faced to make a decision between representing their country and playing in franchise-type Twenty20 events," May said. "A healthy balance of optimising commercial revenues and player workload needs to be set by the ICC and its members in order for international cricket to retain its attractiveness to players. The more Twenty20 events that are programmed in any calendar year, the easier it will be for players to turn their back on international cricket.
"The trend that we observe, through our surveys of players, is that more and more players state that they have less an attachment to international cricket with the emergence of competitions such as IPL. More and more cricketers are frustrated with the clustered international calendar and the time that is being spent away from wives, families and friends."