New York

INTERNATIONAL sports competitions are celebrated for pitting the world's best players against one another. In international cricket, this ideal is increasingly compromised.

In February, the Australian national cricket team will play two matches in 24 hours on different continents: a Twenty20 match at home against Sri Lanka and a Test match in India. Leading players, therefore, will not be able to play in both matches. The same national team, organised by the same governing body, will effectively be competing against itself for interest in different formats. It will be a seminal moment for the sport, and a microcosm of how congested cricket's international calendar has become.