The ICC is moving to address what it calls "significant corruption concerns" across franchise cricket, with its integrity unit documenting "growing evidence" that corrupters have infiltrated leagues and players across multiple member territories. The governing body will form a working party to harmonize franchise schedules within the international calendar and strengthen anti-corruption measures.

At its annual conference in Edinburgh, the ICC executive committee will discuss expanding sanctioning requirements for domestic leagues. Currently, only non-full member tournaments featuring more than four recent full-member internationals require ICC approval — a threshold the organization wants to lower, bringing more competitions under direct oversight.

The ICC is also weighing enhanced intervention powers for leagues where integrity concerns go unaddressed, alongside scrutiny of illegal betting markets fueled by franchise sponsorship deals. The governing body warns these arrangements "expose host members to the risk of facilitating" illicit wagering, creating pathways for match-fixing.

With franchise cricket's rapid expansion — from the IPL and SA20 to newer leagues in the UAE and USA — the ICC's challenge is enforcement across fragmented jurisdictions. A unified calendar and stricter sanctioning could close regulatory gaps, but only if full members cede control over their domestic windows.