Pakistan agrees with the new points system proposed by ECB

Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has agreed to the proposal from the England & Wales Cricket Board (ECB) to implement a points system for their tours of England later this summer. The new points system suggests four points should be available for each Test victory and two points for the limited-overs contests. This idea was successfully implemented by the ECB during last three Women’s Ashes contests.

The ECB had earlier proposed the same idea to Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC), ahead of their tour of England in May and June. Pakistan is due to play four Tests, five ODIs, and a one-off T20I on their two-month tour from July to September. That would tally with the weighting given in last summer’s Women’s Ashes, which Australia won by 10 points to six.

Initially, six points had been on offer for the one-off Test match in the Women’s Ashes, but that figure was reduced to four after the 2013-14 series in Australia.

With a possible 28 points to be made available over the course of the ten fixtures in Pakistan’s tour, but with the Tests due to be played first, a 4-0 clean sweep for either team would be enough to secure 16 points and, with it, the series.

The proposal has met with a mixed response from England’s cricketers, particularly those who might expect to play a part in all three formats.

“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.

However, his team-mate Ben Stokes was less enamored, particularly by the suggestion that the idea might eventually be rolled out to the men’s Ashes.

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

An ECB spokesman confirmed to ESPNcricinfo that the prospect of a points system was taking shape.

“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.”