ICC Test Championship Talks

[Ahmed_B]

West Indies break-up may herald Test Championship
By Scyld Berry
04 Aug 2009

Nobody has yet come up with a really workable schedule for a Test Championship, not even the most ingenious of thinkers about the modern game, Martin Crowe, New Zealand's former captain, who made his proposals to MCC's world cricket committee.

If a Test Championship with semi-finals and a final is desired, then can they each consist of one match, which would hinge on winning the toss on a flat pitch and batting first for several days?

To be fair, the semi-finals and final would have to consist of three Tests each so the rub of the green would be evenly spread; and if we allow for practice games and acclimatisation, we are talking of more than a month for each encounter.

To allow for three-match semi-finals and finals, an enormous amount of time would therefore have to be set aside in the calendar, with knock-on effects. If England reached the semi-finals, at home, they would have to cancel a tour by another country at short notice. Sorry, Australia, we can't play the Ashes this summer, we've got a Test Championship semi instead.

Unfortunately, the time for a Test Championship consisting of a league – without any semi-finals or final – may come to pass sooner rather than later. West Indian cricket seems to have a death wish, to judge by the inability of its administrators and players to pull together. Not even the ultimate humiliation of being beaten at home by Bangladesh has sparked any common sense, purpose or sanity.

Trinidad and Tobago are already talking of going their own way. Yes, it would be a great shame if they did. But only a common culture has held the Anglophone West Indian territories together, and this no longer appears to be strong enough. All other Test teams have been, and are, nation states.

Future West Indian administrators might just be competent enough to assemble a decent team for World Cups and Twenty20 tournaments. But in Test cricket their incompetence is now a sorry fact; and it might prove better for all concerned, in the long run, and after a painful separation, if the West Indian territories were to do what Trinidad proposes.

If so, then we immediately have a league of two, or three, natural divisions. Australia, England, India, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa and Sri Lanka would make up the first division. Play each other home and away in series of at least three Tests (but more if you want, as in the Ashes), give two points for a series win and one for a draw, and at the end of every three or four-year cycle you have a winner, with every game having a context.

At present you have a winner of the ICC Test Championship every year. But only one person on the planet, the inventor, can understand the points system – which sometimes involves teams changing position without a ball being bowled.

The second division would start off by consisting of Bangladesh, Zimbabwe, and the five main West Indian territories: Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica, Trinidad and perhaps a Combined Islands team. There would be a real incentive for them to top their division and play off against the bottom team in the first division at the end of the cycle. National, not regional, pride would become the driving force, with the aid of governments and without the West Indian board getting in the way.

A third division would then consist of Ireland, Scotland, Kenya, Canada and the like. Again the division's top team at the end of the cycle would play off against the bottom side of division two – on the latter's grounds, so that promotion is feasible but difficult.

Statisticians might say the whole corpus of Test records will be devalued. But that cannot be a prime consideration – and the standard would rise if only the first division had Test status, and the second division played first-class internationals.

Besides, the historical corpus has already been devalued by Bangladesh – and by the West Indies reserve team who have just been beaten by them.

What the experts think

MICHAEL VAUGHAN
(former England captain)

I am not too sure how much difference a world championship would make. I think night Test matches played abroad have to be looked at to get a few more people in through the gate.

The ICC also have to make sure the big four nations are playing each other as much as possible so somewhere in the world there is a series such as England-Australia, South Africa-India or India-Australia going on or looming.

We also need the West Indies and New Zealand to improve.

They have dropped their standards and become easier fixtures, which is not great viewing for the public.

RICKY PONTING
(Australia captain)

Until I see a model of what they’re proposing it’s hard to make a call. I understand what they’re trying to do and what they’re trying to achieve by it.

I’m not sure how the points would work - would you get more points for home or away wins, or for quality of opposition?

The thing they were worried about is dead-rubber Test matches and maybe series that weren’t as big as others. But at the end of the day there’s always a trophy up for grabs, and knowing how Australians approach Test match cricket there’s never a game that we’re not trying to win as quickly as possible.

I’d like to see a working model.

STEVE WAUGH
(former Australia captain and member of MCC World Cricket Committee)

Test cricketers want to be able to say they’re the world champions of Test cricket.

We can say it in the Twenty20 and 50-over game but Test cricket continues on and on. There’s the ranking system but there’s no actual trophy where you can hold it aloft.

Something definitely needs to be done to lift the profile of Test cricket. Most players still believe it is the pinnacle of the game and why not reward that every couple of years with a Test cricket championship or a trophy you’ve won.

Work should commence immediately on devising the appropriate format.

ANDY FLOWER (England coach)

I think it’s quite a good concept. It gives more of an aim to every Test. Maybe if they announce a winner every two years would be about right. To change the champion team every year would be a bit strange.

But I would like to see the proposal before making a final judgment.

RAHUL DRAVID
(India Test batsman and member of MCC world cricket committee)

If there’s something to play for, it’s definitely going to make a difference.This sort of thing would help motivate players because when No 7 plays No 8 it’s almost

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