International cricket

There was no formal structure of international cricket until the early twenty-first century. It had long been traditional for countries, without any intervention from a body such as the International Cricket Council (ICC), to organise for themselves the various cricket matches. The ICC later committed the Test cricket playing nations to play each other in a programme of matches over a period of 10 years known as the ICC Future Tours Programme (FTP). This system was set up to encourage some of the better-established countries to play the lesser nations more frequently.

Most Test, One-Day and Twenty20 matches take place in the form of "tours". In a tour, one nation travels to another and plays warm-up matches, first-class matches against domestic teams such as county or state teams, a series of Test matches against the host nation, and either a series of One-Day and Twenty20 matches against the host nation or a tournament involving the host nation and another touring nation. The "triangular tournament" format is often used when one tour is about to conclude and the other has just begun or may include one team only for that tournament. In the tournament, the three teams play each other either two or three times. The two teams with the most points (usually two points for a win, one point for a no-result or tie, and no points for a loss) qualify for the one-game final; the bonus point system is also sometimes used in a triangular tournament, including the Australian Tri-Series and the NatWest Series.

Test series can last from two to six matches. Six-match series were common in the 1970s and early 1980s, with the last six-match series to date taking place in 1997–98 between the West Indies and England. Ashes Test series in England were six-match affairs between 1981 and 1997, but Australia reverted to five matches in its home series from 1982–83. The most important series last four or five matches, while the less important ones last two to three matches. At most, a perpetual trophy is awarded to the winning team, or to both teams in the case of a drawn series.

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