Test Proposal to split test cricket into two divisions

[BGman]

Because it diminishes to standing of cricket to chase the mighty dollar

I would hate to see the ashes every 2 years ..4 years has more meaning for me

Short term the model would most likely work but long term I reckon cricket will suffer

And what happens if India England Aus play poorly for a two year period will they be relegated ?? I guarantee they will not

It’s just a cash grab before we know it India will be known as MRF India some commercial bullshit Australia the Telstra kangaroos

I see its only merit is the chance for a couple of the minnow nations to play Test cricket against the big fish if the promotion/demotion model is introduced. And behind Ireland and Afghan, there are some 96 other Associate Members across all continents perpetuating the sport. Some have been members for over 50 years. Specially deserving of a crack at the Test big time are those 8 with current ODI/T20-I status.

 

[Norwegian Blue]

In theory, I'd support the idea of two tiers with promotion/relegation. In practice, the so-called Big 3 will have a rule that means they can't be relegated no matter how poorly they perform on the field. That'll just piss off all the other countries, making cricket even less relevant to them.

If Australia, England and India want to only play each other, they should just say so. I, for one, won't watch.

 

[sydney_gws]

I hope it isn't Australia being childish about this. Being world champion in a sport that isn't trying to grow beyond 40% at most of the world's population is potentially meaningless.
I don't know the answer, but I think current system works OK. It actually doesn't matter india doesn't play Pakistan, big 3 get to play each other a fair bit.
Some smaller countries are quick to winge, puts hands out and then corruptly use the funds anyway.

 

[Teen Wolf]

It wont happen for that reason, as imagine the empty stands for a WTC final against say, Ireland v Sri Lanka. ICC will loose $$$$ in revenue.

That's extremely dumb. There wouldn't be any trouble filling the stands for a Test match at Lord's between two "minnow" teams if they're actually good.

Regardless, in a 12-team WTC scenario, there'd be a 50% chance of a "Big 3" team making the final, whether there's a single table or two pools.

 

[Seedsfan]

They just need to combine a lower-level team with a higher performing team as they did more regularly about a decade ago but with more intent. Something like:

South Africa 3-tests/Pakistan 3-tests
New Zealand 3-tests/Sri Lanka 3-tests
England 5-tests/Bangladesh 1-test
India 5-tests/Zimbabwe 1-test
West Indies somewhere in there.

Wouldn't something like that work better?

Look things we should do.

When we play an away ashes instead of tour games play 1/2 tests v Ireland

When we go to India instead of warm up games play Afghanistan in India.

At least then in some ways we are playing the smaller nations. Zimbabwe will be an issue as they play the same time of year we do and same with South Africa so it would be hard to go there before a South Africa tour and still have a home summer

 

[JackOutback]

I’m happy to tell Afghanistan to go **** themselves until they give women at least a basic level of rights, just as all countries did to South Africa in the 80s.

 

[L_W_P]

This stinks.

It's like when the AFL want to push a new 'blockbuster' game and try to give it to Carlton/Collingwood/Essendon/Richmond and then turn around and say "See, it's a success so we were right!"

I'd love to see a summer vs smaller nations.

Play 3 tests against Sri Lanka (Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne) & 3 against Zimbabwe (Brisbane, Sydney, Hobart)

Would give us a chance to blood some youth as well as display a few internationals that we haven't seen before.

 

[Bletch]

International cricket needs an overhaul.

This isn't it.

 

[ioppolo]

This stinks.

It's like when the AFL want to push a new 'blockbuster' game and try to give it to Carlton/Collingwood/Essendon/Richmond and then turn around and say "See, it's a success so we were right!"

I'd love to see a summer vs smaller nations.

Play 3 tests against Sri Lanka (Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne) & 3 against Zimbabwe (Brisbane, Sydney, Hobart)

Would give us a chance to blood some youth as well as display a few internationals that we haven't seen before.

People on here lose their shit when inferior nations visit during the summer and get flogged. They're also not happy when only England and India tour. No winning sometimes.

 

[nobbyiscool]

I originally had a similar view to most of you, thinking this differentiation between the haves and have nots sucks.

But, the more I think about it, there are 2 factors at play that we're not really considering:

• much as we're outraged that we'll never play these countries? Apart from the West Indies, we don't play them now!
• a divisional structure might allow the ICC to create some more concrete rules around who teams play and when. Currently the Test Championship doesn't really do a great job of this.

IF - and admittedly, it's a huge if - they created some rules around "inter-divisional play"... let's say you have to play 2x 2 test series and 2x 2 test home series every 3 years... that's still only 8 matches every 3 years, 2.67 test matches per year, when we average 10 a year...

Aren't we then potentially creating a situation where we play them more?

I guess this all assumes that Australia don't only play the WIndies (for historical reasons), and for geographical reasons England only play Ireland, South Africa only play Zimbabwe, India only play Afghanistan, and maybe Pakistan or Sri Lanka only play Bagladesh. (who knows, Pakistan or Sri Lanka could initially end up in the 2nd division, creating equal divisions and a "pair" for NZ as well.)