NEW DELHI — Australia, who recently won the Border-Gavaskar Trophy on home
soil by 3-1, along with India, England and the International Cricket Council
(ICC) are reportedly in talks to have a two-tier Test cricket system, with an
eye on having the big three nations playing each other more often.
According to a report in The Sydney Morning Herald, ICC
Chairman Jay Shah, Cricket Australia chair Mike Baird, England and Wales
Cricket Board (ECB) chief Richard Thompson are set to meet later this month,
with a two-tier structure for Test cricket firmly on the agenda of their
discussion.
“Their discussions have been given further impetus by
enormous crowds and broadcast audiences for Australia’s five matches against
India over the past two months, the fourth-best attended series ever in this
country and reportedly the most-watched Test series ever played.
“Any plan for a move to two divisions in Test cricket
would kick in after the end of the current Future Tours Program in 2027, a year
which will also feature a 150th anniversary Test match between Australia and
England at the MCG," said the report.
It further said if the two-tier Test structure becomes a
reality, then Australia, England and India will be free from having to play
Test cricket against many nations, and the three nations would be able to play
against each other twice in every three years, instead of every four years,
which is currently the case.
Interestingly, the concept of a two-tier system in Test
cricket was proposed in an ICC Board meeting in 2016, where seven nations would
compete in the first division, while the remaining five countries would compete
in the second division.
But it was shelved in 2016, as at that time, the BCCI,
Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC), the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) and Zimbabwe
Cricket (ZC) opposed it.
The report also mentions that if the two-tier system is
approved, it would lead to a change in cricketing world, with the World Test
Championship running for just one more cycle, despite providing greater context
to longer format games since its inception in 2019.
