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Green Tea
No ICC plan to strip Bangladesh of Test status: Richardson
The International Cricket Council says it has no plan to strip Bangladesh of Test status though it is thinking about the options to accommodate Bangladesh in Test Cricket after the current Future Tour Programme (FTP) expires in March 2012.
David Richardson, the visiting general manager of the ICC, told reporters at Hotel Sheraton they were working on three different options about how Test cricket will go in the future and were taking opinions from its all stakeholders.
Among the options, the first one is to maintain the existing format where the Test-playing nations play each other at least once home and away series in a six-year FTP period.
But, the problem is that some of the nations are reluctant to stick to the existing format that has forced the ICC to think of an alternative.
At the moment the ICC has the best alternative idea to hold a Test championship for a four-year period where the countries will have four home series and four away series in the first two years.
After the completion of the first two-year schedules, top four teams on the table will play each other in the next two years to decide the title.
The fifth to eighth teams will also play for place-deciding matches while ninth and tenth teams will play a play-off match.
The ICC believes it will significantly reduce the number of Test matches and thus the teams will be able to play enough one-day international and Twenty20 matches.
Richardson, a former South Africa wicketkeeper, briefed the BCB on all the options, but he hardly got any support about ICC's alternative plan.
Bangladesh, ninth in Test ranking, will barely get any match in the second part of the Test championship if the ICC approves the alternative format.
"The FTP is an agreement between the Test sides. If they don't want this we must think of some other plans," said Richardson, admitting that the idea of holding Test championship was complicated and needed more time to get a shape.
Richardson said the FTP was an agreement among the Test nations and that they must think of some other plans if they did not want this.
The South African had a lot of discussions in Dhaka about the future of Test cricket but the official purpose of his visit is the centenary programme of the ICC.
The game's governing body, which started its journey 100 years ago with only three members in Australia, England and South Africa, will celebrate the centenary programme with 104 countries.
Asked about breakaway Indian Cricket League, Richardson, sympathising with rebel Bangladesh and New Zealand players, hopes India will resolve the issue quickly so that countries did not suffer anymore.
from
Bdnews24.com