Want to make sure players are playing right-balance of formats: Strauss

The influx of T20 leagues is currently causing a wide-spread debate in the cricketing world. And with that, there comes the big question mark over the players’ decision, on which format that they want to play. Earlier, New Zealand’s Trent Boult was open to playing more T20 leagues as opposed to playing the longest format of the game. 

Former England skipper Andrew Strauss believes that the two formats could co-exist. At the same time, Strauss also insisted that Test cricket still pays the bills in England unlike other countries. 

"One thing we know in other countries, Test cricket doesn't pay the bills, like it does here," Strauss told the Daily Telegraph.

"The T20 format is the way that a lot of people get introduced to the game in the first place. I still maintain that they can sit together comfortably, Test and T20 cricket.

Strauss also emphasised that the players will always weigh up their options and pick the best-suited format for themselves. 

"And the truth is, none of us know what's around the corner so you can all look into the future and go, 'Yeah, we're going to have this situation where players are signed up to franchises for 12 months of the year and there's less international cricket'. We don't know any of that at this point," he said.

"They (the players) will always look at those opportunities side by side and decide what's best for them and you don't hold that against them," Strauss said.

Having said that, the southpaw also insisted that the management will have to make sure that the players are finding the right balance of the formats and not falling deep into the white-ball route. 

"And so we need to continue promoting all the brilliant things that cricket in this country offers players -- we want to have a strong vibrant domestic game and we want to make sure the players are playing the right balance of formats as well so that it's not all drifting down that white-ball short-form route.

"There's still plenty of players that want to commit and challenge themselves to be the best Test cricketers they can be. I think that's really important that we set ourselves up in this country, we set the game up in a way that allows us to be flexible and adaptable."