The
International Cricket Council unveiled a long-awaited, nine-nation Test
championship yesterday in a bid to preserve the five-day format’s
status following the rapid growth of Twenty20.
The Test league was
among a raft of reforms agreed at an ICC board meeting in Auckland,
including revamping the one-day international schedule and trialling
four-day Tests.
“Our priority was to develop (a) structure that gave
context and meaning across international cricket and particularly in the
Test arena,” ICC chief David Richardson said in a statement.
The
Test league will start in 2019 and see nine teams play six series over
two years — three home and three away. It will culminate in a final
between the two top teams at Lord’s.
The ICC has argued for years
that a Test championship is needed to boost the format’s popularity as
crowds and TV viewers flock to the fast-paced, big-hitting Twenty20
version of the game.
It first appointed a committee to examine the
concept back in 1998. But squabbling over formats, and fears that some
nations will be disadvantaged, have twice stymied efforts to launch a
league structure since 2010.
“Bringing context to bilateral cricket
is not a new challenge, but this is the first time a genuine solution
has been agreed on,” ICC chairman Shashank Manohar said.
The nine
nations in the competition are Australia, Bangladesh, England, India,
New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka, and West Indies.
Cricket
Australia chief James Sutherland called it “a really significant moment
in international cricket history”. “It’s a tremendous step forward. The
ICC and member countries have made a strong statement about
international cricket and how we want to make sure it remains at the
forefront of the three forms of the game.”
The ICC will hope it’s a
case of third time lucky for the Test championship after two previous
attempts failed without a ball being bowled in anger.
A version was
supposed to begin in 2013 but was scrapped because existing commercial
arrangements meant the ICC was obliged to stage the one-day Champions
Trophy instead.
Then plans for a June 2017 launch were scuppered when
some of the game’s powerbrokers, including India, objected to a
proposed two-tier league system, saying smaller teams would be
disadvantaged.
There was also a reported lack of interest from television companies.
Purists
view Test cricket as the pinnacle of the sport but it has struggled,
particularly in Asia, as lucrative T20 competitions such as the Indian
Premier League caught the public’s imagination.
A recent innovation
designed to reverse the trend is the introduction of day-night Test
matches, which moves playing sessions to more spectator-friendly hours
after dark.
The Auckland meeting also agreed to experiment with
four-day Tests, with South Africa and Zimbabwe set to trial the first in
December.
Richardson emphasised that the shorter Test matches were
only being trialled and their results would not be part of the new Test
championship.
“Throughout the discussions about the future of Test
cricket it became clear... we must also consider alternatives and trial
initiatives that may support the future viability of Test cricket,” he
said.
The ICC will also establish a 13-nation one-day international
league starting in 2020, with results counting towards World Cup
qualification.
It argued that the league structure would give added
context to Test and ODI fixtures, rather than the current system of
bilateral series which have little bearing on other teams.