Nice one Gideon - Test cricket has been dying ever since I have been alive 59 years - it some respects Ashes. BG and India and the poms - have never been stronger...there is the problem - Aust should have great rivalry against SA and NZ -
I despair of it all, though to be fair maybe one should hold off on the despairing until we see the detail, especially any support given to the lower tier teams. Still cynically moving on, l wonder how long it will take for two tiers to become one when the bottom tier no longer make the grade and are cut, only for the top tier to become two again when Australia, England and India stick to themselves. The new bottom tier may well wonder why they didn’t get out earlier. Can you really have a World Test Championship with three teams?
Cricket's Haves and Have Yachts will always hold sway.
With apologies to The Saints, the ICC clearly does not know its product. In a half arsed attempt to grow one of its brands of smokes, its introduction of Ireland and Afghanistan, which have no prospect of advancement in Tests without adequate funding and fixtures, amongst other obvious issues, muddied the waters. In fact, should Zimbabwe, or the Windies for that matter, have been cut from Test cricket a while ago? There are probably only the eight countries which can aspire to being even competitive and some like Sri Lanka and Pakistan could use a bit of support to regain even a fraction of their former glory. Maybe the two new teams were always a ruse to have enough fodder for an eventual second tier that will self-evidently wither on the vine.
IPL owners just like NFL owners understand the value of an equalised sports structure and rigid top down control to maximize the quality of the product so as to boost revenue and profits.
As you correctly point out Gideon, Test Cricket needs a very similar level of attention and structure.
Two tiers may well be needed at some point in the future. But before that point, many other quite reasonable measures can be implemented to stop the drift away from what is still the best version of international cricket.
Were there any good ideas to find a better path forward from the World Cricket Connect forums you have atteended? And is there any momentum among those who can influence ICC to give them serious consideration?
Nice one Gideon - Test cricket has been dying ever since I have been alive 59 years - it some respects Ashes. BG and India and the poms - have never been stronger...there is the problem - Aust should have great rivalry against SA and NZ -
I despair of it all, though to be fair maybe one should hold off on the despairing until we see the detail, especially any support given to the lower tier teams. Still cynically moving on, l wonder how long it will take for two tiers to become one when the bottom tier no longer make the grade and are cut, only for the top tier to become two again when Australia, England and India stick to themselves. The new bottom tier may well wonder why they didn’t get out earlier. Can you really have a World Test Championship with three teams?
And pray what would happen if one of the 'big three' finished in the relegation slot at the end of a cycle? Answers on a postcard
English domestic cricket heading the same way. Sad times
Plenty of food for thought Gideon.
The more cricket has commercialised and become a 'product', the more damage has occurred to its future.
It's hard to know what the best path now is, but more and more commercially driven abbreviated forms of the game is certainly not the answer.
Cricket's Haves and Have Yachts will always hold sway.
With apologies to The Saints, the ICC clearly does not know its product. In a half arsed attempt to grow one of its brands of smokes, its introduction of Ireland and Afghanistan, which have no prospect of advancement in Tests without adequate funding and fixtures, amongst other obvious issues, muddied the waters. In fact, should Zimbabwe, or the Windies for that matter, have been cut from Test cricket a while ago? There are probably only the eight countries which can aspire to being even competitive and some like Sri Lanka and Pakistan could use a bit of support to regain even a fraction of their former glory. Maybe the two new teams were always a ruse to have enough fodder for an eventual second tier that will self-evidently wither on the vine.
IPL owners just like NFL owners understand the value of an equalised sports structure and rigid top down control to maximize the quality of the product so as to boost revenue and profits.
As you correctly point out Gideon, Test Cricket needs a very similar level of attention and structure.
Two tiers may well be needed at some point in the future. But before that point, many other quite reasonable measures can be implemented to stop the drift away from what is still the best version of international cricket.
Were there any good ideas to find a better path forward from the World Cricket Connect forums you have atteended? And is there any momentum among those who can influence ICC to give them serious consideration?