ICC plans to introduce Test, ODI leagues

London, June 26

One of the biggest shake-ups in cricket history could take place when the sport’s global governing body convenes in Edinburgh on Monday. Radical plans for the creation of two divisions in Test cricket and a One-day International league will be on the agenda of the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) week-long annual meeting in the Scottish capital.

Since Australia and England played the first Test in 1877, Test matches have largely been matters for the two countries concerned and the same has generally been true of the ODIs outside of tournaments such as the World Cup.

The ICC has introduced Test rankings but the complicated formula has failed to capture the imagination of cricket fans and the wider sporting public. With many top players increasingly tempted by offers to play in domestic T20 events such as the Indian Premier League, where they can earn more money in less time than by playing Tests, ICC is keen to give Test cricket a greater “context”.

‘Meaningful cricket’

“We are looking at competition structures across all three formats,” ICC chief executive David Richardson said at the launch of the 2017 Champions Trophy earlier this month. “We want to find ways of playing slightly less but more meaningful cricket.”

Richardson is behind the scheme that would see the creation of seven teams in Division One and five, including two new Test nations, in Division Two. They would play in a league system having provision for promotion and relegation. Each team in the top tier would play every other side home and away in a two-year cycle. Matches and series would each be given a set number of points — the exact figures are still to be decided — to determine the standings. At the end of the cycle, the bottom team would be relegated, with the team on top the new world Test champions. — AFP