June 29, 2007	Friday	Jamadi-us-Sani 13, 1428

LONDON, June 28: The ICC's Future Tours Programme (FTP) has turned Australia into a cricket superpower, according to Cricket South Africa's chief executive Gerald Majola on Thursday.

He believes Australia, India and England are favoured by hosting matches in peak periods and the other Test-playing nations ‘get the scraps of what is left over’.

Majola said Australia's stranglehold on the Boxing Day and New Year's Tests was unfair and he confirmed 2008-09 would be the last time South Africa would take part in those iconic matches in Australia.

“All of the countries were asked to submit our most favourable times and seven countries all had the same peak period of Box Day and New Year's," Majola told The Australian. “Yet, when the FTP was drawn up only Australia got it every year in Australia. No other country had that privilege. For me that was seriously unacceptable and I challenged that.”—Agencies