Test Proposal to split test cricket into two divisions

[Jeremias]

Top flight: Australia, England, India in talks to split Tests in two

Australia, England, India and the International Cricket Council’s new chair Jay Shah are in talks to split Test cricket into two divisions, so the big three nations can play each other more often

www.theage.com.au

Australia, England, India and the International Cricket Council’s new chair Jay Shah are in talks to split Test cricket into two divisions so the big three nations can play each other more often in series like the just-completed Border-Gavaskar blockbuster.

Shah, Cricket Australia chair Mike Baird and England Cricket Board chair Richard Thompson are set to meet later this month. According to two sources with knowledge of talks, a two-tier structure for Test cricket is firmly on the agenda.

Absolutely hate this idea. Gives off major 'European Super League' vibes and I hope it is similarly rejected en masse, though I strongly suspect it won't be.

This is the exact opposite of what I have long felt should be looked at. If we want cricket to thrive in the minnow countries, then the stronger nations have a responsibility to try and help that become a reality.

No doubt this will be great for those at the top of the food chain, but IMO will all but kill off test cricket elsewhere. Is that really what we want?

 

[cats_09]

I haven’t long read it suggested that Australia - England - India should play a regular ‘Test tri-series’, I’m guessing in a similar vein to what the old ODI tri-series looked like

But how exactly would it work?

Would it be a 4 test summer with each team playing the other once and the two teams with the most wins then play off in a final?

Yeah-nah, easy pass for me

 

[rdhopkins2]

I see where they are going. No way. It will kill Test cricket once the minnow nations are demoted. Crowds will eventually get bored of the same teams touring.

 

[Scorpus]

Yucky

 

[Cleavy]

all about the money.

 

[Howard Littlejohn]

Horrible idea, every time its brought up its horrid.
It essentially condemns every other nation to irrelevance forever, as well as destroying the idea that Test cricket is the peak of the sport. It can't be the peak when its the second tier. It is bad enough as is for Afghanistan, Ireland and Zimbabwe; reliant as they are on charity tests sitting outside the WTC.

Not only that, if the "big three" play each other much more often the other risk is interest will die off thanks to overkill. A series doesn't have much hanging on it if its being played again in six months.

The WTC does need a major overhaul, but bringing all nations into it rather than splitting the wealthy nations into their own division.

 

[PhatBoy]

F**k you CA, f**k you BCCI and f**k you ECB for even entertaining this shit.

You’re all c**ts.

I am so sick of hearing about this. India you bleed the game dry with the IPL shit that started all of the modern franchising and de-identifying of the game. You prop the game up financially so we have to live with it.

England you play so much test cricket it’s almost lost all meaning but you are the one team that will host or play virtually anyone so I can almost forgive it.

Australia you are the least willing to get into bed with India in some respects so I can forgive your failings but on the flip side you pick and choose who you want to play with when and where on such an unfair basis that it’s simply laughable. Mominul Haque, Tamim Iqbal, and Mushy have scored 16,000 test runs and played a combined 5 tests against Australia.


Even if I LIKED Australia I’d be hoping SA tears them a new arse in the WTC final if this little rumour is real.

 

[Headless]

No thanks.

 

[big_e]

With Afghanistan, Ireland and Zimbabwe having never been allowed to play in the WTC, we basically have two divisions already.

 

[Teen Wolf]

"so the Big 3 can play each other more often" implies non-hierarchal divisions rather than tiers, otherwise they run into the age old issue of England soon being relegated.

There would be nothing wrong with splitting the WTC into two groups like...

Group A: Aus, Eng, Ind, Ire, SL, WI
Group B: Afg, Ban, NZ, Pak, RSA, Zim

Play everybody in your group H&A within a 3-year period. Top of each group plays off in the final. Then after every 3-year cycle, move some of the minnows around.

 

[Gough]

Late stage capitalism writ large in cricket, three players prepared to f*** over everyone else and the game so that they can add even more to their already substantial riches.

 

[010203]

About a decade ago, there were 15 Ashes Tests from July 2013 to September 2015. By the end of it all, it felt a bit meaningless to the point where it was a good thing the 2 countries didn't face off again until November 2017.

The way for Test cricket to survive and flourish is for 3 countries to put the good of the game ahead of the good of themselves. A funding model that ensures Test cricket can be viable for more than 3 countries wouldn't hurt.

 

[beez]

With Afghanistan, Ireland and Zimbabwe having never been allowed to play in the WTC, we basically have two divisions already.

Obviously impractical, but I'd love a summer of Afghanistan, Ireland and Zimbabwe coming to Aus to play Tests against Australia and also one another. A Zimbabwe v Afghanistan Test at a local ground would be great for the game.

And then an old school ODI series between the four nations in January.

 

[TubbsFarquhar]

If this does get the green light, I hope there's a big enough uproar that they backtrack and overturn it like with the European Super League.

 

[skipper kelly]

Go and watch your local cricket, they need your support.

Tall poppy or whatever, but I do not give 2 hoots about multi millionaires hitting cricket balls and pretending to represent this country. It makes me angry watching it, seeing where it has gone. It probably started for me when they began resting players from ODI's. They did not give 2 ****s about the people spending their hard earned, then missing out on seeing Gilly etc.

So basically don't care what they do.

 

[PhatBoy]

If this does get the green light, I hope there's a big enough uproar that they backtrack and overturn it like with the European Super League.

Who’s going to listen, though?

The problem is that if this were to get legs it appears that it would get legs BECAUSE all three of the powerful nations would be on board.

If any of SA, Sri Lanka, NZ or West Indies put up any sort of fight or uproar, the clout they carry is so minimal that it would not matter one iota.

Pakistan and Bangladesh I guess on weight of population theoretically probably wield a bit more clout but even then the hatred India bears toward Pakistan is so great they don’t matter anyway.


What it would probably take is for something like a boycott of limited over tournaments or for countries to stop giving their better players no objection certificates to play in the franchise tournaments, and an uproar from fans turning away from the game.

 

[cricketnut14]

Top flight: Australia, England, India in talks to split Tests in two

Australia, England, India and the International Cricket Council’s new chair Jay Shah are in talks to split Test cricket into two divisions, so the big three nations can play each other more often

www.theage.com.au

don't we already have an 'unofficial' 2 tiered system.

*each WTC cycle contains australia v england, england v india, india v australia
*zimbabwe. ireland & afghanistan don't compete in the WTC as it is - so the article is basically saying they want to remove 2 from the WTC to join these teams
*zimbabwe, ireland & afghansitan already regularly play each other and the occasional match against bangladesh, west indies & sri lanka (the other potential tier 2 candidates).

 

[dogs105]

Short answer: no

Long answer: **** no

 

[Mateyman]

As has been pointed out we already play these guys all the time - any more concentration will be boring. I'm actually looking forward to the 4 test series vs NZ in Aus in 2026. Seeing all countries out here at some point is part of the enjoyment.

Ideally would have 1 top level opponent at least every summer (Eng, India, SA, NZ/Pakistan - although both of these teams are inexplicably awful in Aus recently)

 

[cricketnut14]

"so the Big 3 can play each other more often" implies non-hierarchal divisions rather than tiers, otherwise they run into the age old issue of England soon being relegated.

There would be nothing wrong with splitting the WTC into two groups like...

Group A: Aus, Eng, Ind, Ire, SL, WI
Group B: Afg, Ban, NZ, Pak, RSA, Zim

Play everybody in your group H&A within a 3-year period. Top of each group plays off in the final. Then after every 3-year cycle, move some of the minnows around.

then it wouldn't be possible for an Aust v Ind, Aust v Eng or Eng v India final

 

[eaglevision]

It comes down to intent. If the intent is just profit for the big three then absolutely not. But provided 50% of any increase in profit is given directly to the smaller nations then I don’t mind it.

I don’t see value in Bangladesh touring Australia and being beaten by an innings but I do see value in additional funding for grass roots cricket in poorer or emerging nations.

At the end of the cycle 7th place in group A goes into group B, 1st from group B goes into group A. 6th from group A also plays 2nd from group B at a neutral venue for promotion/demotion.

Absolutely nothing wrong with closer matches, ensuring additional funding for smaller nations and making sure one or two teams change groups each two year cycle. What will be glorious is when one of the big three drop into group B, then we’ll truly see their motives. There’s also no reason the matches in group B need to be considered anything other than Test Matches.

 

[PhatBoy]

in a boardroom under a mountain in the Himalayas behind a secret door in the rocks, which all the CEOs of the test playing nations activated with a key. The CEOs of NZ, SA, WI, SL, Pak, Bang, Zim, Ire, Afg all wait and chat amongst themselves around a large table. Three well dressed executives enter

Aus: Sorry to keep you gentlemen. The naan was biting back. How can we help you?

NZ: Well we heard there’s a two tier idea for Test cricket that you guys are talking about. Is that true?

Ind: Ha!!! Well I wouldn’t say it’s a two tier idea, I’d call it more of a….. Well yes it’s a two tier idea.

Eng: We think it’s going to be beneficial for everyone.

WI: Look we’ve all put a lot of time and effort into this, Mon, and we know what we need. We just need a little cash.

Eng: Hash?

WI: Cash.

SL: We just need some money. We don’t need a heap of tournaments or enough money to build stadiums or new franchises or whatever. We just need enough money to pay our players to want to play Test cricket and be competitive and put some money back into the game!

Aus: Did you guys understand a word he just said?

Ind: No. So here’s what we think would help. We are gonna play each other, around the clock. 7, 8, 9 times a year if need be. We figure test cricket could be like the NBA. And you guys can come and watch and sometimes you - yes you - SA - can play us, if you’re up to it. And maybe you, NZ. But not if you beat us again. And you can’t have more money. Only for your T20 rights.

SA: But we aren’t even asking for much and you guys earn billions. We just want to be able to compe-

Aus: F**k that naan was good.

Pak: We don’t even get to play you guys when we are good - how the f**k do you expect us to make money when we are bad? We might never get to play Australia or England if we shit the bed and drop to tier two? Just help us out with some cash and we can-

Ind: Now here’s how the two tier thing will work-

WI: We just drew a series in Australia and England have lost their last handful of series when they visit us. So we can’t play them anymore? Seriously we don’t need THAT much from the pool that all of us contribute to. Just enough that we can keep developing. Look at Bangladesh here - they’ve beaten Pakistan, taken a test off us, taken a test off NZ, just as theyre getting good you are going to stop them?

Eng: Bangla-who?

Bang: Bangladesh. There’s 180 million of us and we beat you last time we played you.

Eng: oh. Anyway, have you heard of this thing called Bazzball? It’s great, you should come watch the Ashes.

Afghanistan: Will someone play us, please?

Ireland: we will.

Afghanistan: not you.

Zimbabwe: what about us?

Afghanistan: does anyone want to change seats?

Ind: look I think what Ireland, Zimbabwe and Afghanistan are trying to say is that they want less test cricket, and they want it in a multi-tiered format. It’s the only way I can see the game moving forward.

Aus: Agreed. There’s no viable solution. I can’t see a way to inject money into these other countries. What they need is more Australia-India-England cricket, with the odd two test excursion from one of us down to visit the Proteas or the Black Caps just to, you know, ‘keep it real.’

Eng: Bazzball.

Aus: Haha, that’s a moral victory if ever I saw one you old devil England.

Ind: so, is everyone onboard?

NZ: if you duck-heads could just listen we DONT WANT A TONNE OF CASH OR A TWO TIERED SYSTEM, we just need a slightly bigger revenue cut and some extra games here and there against the bigger nations and we can all develop better teams and a better product.

Ind: Great! That’s great I’m just writing it down here, ‘NZ is on board and so is everyone else.’ Meeting closed.

Pak: F**k you.

 

[Teen Wolf]

then it wouldn't be possible for an Aust v Ind, Aust v Eng or Eng v India final

Wouldn't be necessary either.

 

[ioppolo]

Obviously impractical, but I'd love a summer of Afghanistan, Ireland and Zimbabwe coming to Aus to play Tests against Australia and also one another. A Zimbabwe v Afghanistan Test at a local ground would be great for the game.

And then an old school ODI series between the four nations in January.

Die hard tragics would love it but imagine the content of the Bigfooty cricket board over a summer like that when Australia obliterates every game?

 

[Richard Pryor]

I think conditions have too great an impact on how teams perform in test cricket for contests to remain compelling if the same teams play too often. The time between series allows for a slightly different team to be tested each time, if you up the ante of aus/eng/ind playing each other you'll be getting the same teams and most likely the same results and the same players struggling in the same ways which could kill the format even for the top of the food chain teams.