After England white-ball captain Jos Buttler spoke of his "frustrations" at some players opting to skip the upcoming tour of Bangladesh in favour of more lucrative opportunities in franchise cricket, Michael Atherton has issued a stark warning about the future of the sport.
Atherton believes the rise of franchise tournaments across the world mean that international cricket is "being chipped away at", with as many as 60 English players featuring in four different leagues that all overlapped at one point in January.
And Atherton has criticised the sport's administrators for being "asleep at the wheel" when the Indian Premier League (IPL), which is now the second most lucrative sports league in the world behind the NFL in terms of broadcast rights, was first formed in 2008.
