The International Cricket Council’s proposed two-tier Test structure could run into trouble after some nations expressed reservations about its efficacy.
As reported by The Telegraph, the ICC has formed a working group to look into it, at its annual general meeting in Singapore last month. The recommendations of the group would be placed before its all-powerful board by the end of the year.
However, the nine-team World Test Championship format for the current cycle would not see any changes. If the two-tier structure comes into effect, it would involve 12 teams of six divisions each and would be introduced in the next WTC cycle from 2027 onwards.
Former New Zealand batter Roger Twose leads the working group, which includes ICC’s new chief executive Sanjog Gupta, and also features the England and Wales Cricket Board chief executive, Richard Gould, and Cricket Australia’s chief executive Todd Greenberg. The chiefs from Zimbabwe and Associate nation Namibia — countries who have hosting rights for the 2027 World Cup — are also on the working group.
The proposed revamped Test structure was the most debated topic at the AGM, but ECB, one of the advocates of the new system, seems to be wary of it since relegation could lead to England not being in the same division as Australia or India, thus depriving them of their two most lucrative rivalries.
Speaking to BBC’s Test Match Special, ECB’s Richard Thompson said that while a two-tier model was being discussed by the ICC, he was not sure if it was perfect.
“There’s a lot of options that we’ve got to look at, tiers would be one of them,” he said. “We wouldn’t want, as England, we may go through a fallow period, and that means, what, we fall into Division Two and we don’t play Australia and India? That couldn’t happen. There has to be a sense that common sense needs to play out here.”
Thompson believed that a better solution could be tinkering with the existing WTC.
“The World Test Championship could work better than it does. It has definitely improved the narrative, (and) it has created a relevance,” Thompson said.
Cricket Australia’s Greenberg, who is also on the working group, said the bigger countries had the responsibility of keeping smaller countries competitive.
“The real challenge here is what role do we all play,” Greenberg told SEN Radio on Wednesday. “When I say we, those three countries that (are) putting resources and energy into Test cricket, what role do we have to help others make sure that they step up because it’s in our interest to see a strong West Indies, a strong Pakistan, New Zealand, South Africa. We want those countries being strong in this format of the game, but clearly they’re going to need help. They can’t do it alone.”
Several other Test-playing nations have also feared being left on the brink by the
Big Three.
Greenberg said he was keeping an “open mind” on the two-tier Test model.
However, a lot will depend on the BCCI’s stance, which hasn’t been vocal on the topic. Which route the most influential board takes could decide the issue.