Winter cricket in SA? Proteas could have answer to diluted Test roster

That could be the answer to South Africa's limited red-ball commitments between now and the end of the ICC's Future Tour Programme (FTP) in 2027. 

With Cricket South Africa (CSA) having given up a valuable block at the start of the year - between January and February - to accommodate its international SA20 franchise competition, there are simply less summer weeks to host international cricket, and the Proteas Test side is bearing the brunt. 

The current FTP has the Proteas playing just 28 Test matches from 2023 to 2027, including just four in 2023. To put that into perspective, here are the how many Test matches some of the other top cricketing nations will play over that same four-year period:

England - 43

Australia - 40

India - 38

Bangladesh - 34

New Zealand - 32

With ODI cricket the priority this year with the World Cup staged in India over October and November, the Proteas will be placing huge value on their fixtures against Australia in August and September (five ODIs, three T20s) that will be hosted in Durban and on the Highveld. 

And while those fixtures will all provide crucial preparation for the World Cup, they will also serve as experimentation, of sorts, as CSA considers the possibility of hosting more international cricket outside of the traditional summer months moving forward. 

This, according to CEO Pholetsi Moseki, could be an answer to South Africa's diluted Test roster. 

"The biggest challenge is that the FTP is set for four years," Moseki told News24.

"We can't really do much in that the Tests are confirmed, but outside the FTP there are continuous discussions. The problem is that calendars are jam-packed for everyone, so finding space to accommodate additional content is one of the biggest hurdles. 

"It doesn't