World Test Championship

[Terminator]

World Test Championship

Test cricket calender is in a chaos and confusion and so it should be integrated in a single tournament called the World Test Championship.

It will be played on a 4 year basis beginning with the end of 2011 World Cup and end before 2015 ICC World Cup.

It will consist of two leagues.

1.Major League (W.G. Grace Trophy/Bradman Memorial Trophy)

2.League Cup

The Major League will consist of 8 Nations.

Australia
England
India
Pakistan
Sri Lanka
New Zealand
South Africa
West Indies


Each nation will play mandatory 12 Tests per year ( Home & Away basis).

It will include 3/4/5 match serieses not 2 Test serieses.

Thus a nation will play 48 Tests in the Major League.

A nation will score points on winning or drawing a series extra point for away win.

The nation with maximum points will be crowned the Ultimate Test Champions (of the 4 year span).

Test match format will be 5 days 90 ovs per day no such thing as day night match only pure white cricket.

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The League Cup will consist of 10 Nations.

Bangladesh
Zimbabwe
Ireland
Canada
Kenya
Holland
Scotland
Argentina
Afghanistan/UAE
Namibia


The format here will be First Class not Test.

Each nation will play mandatory 12 FCs per year ( Home & Away basis).

It will include 3 match serieses not 2 match serieses.

Thus a nation will play 48 FC s in the League Cup.

A nation will score points on winning or drawing a series extra point for away win.

The nation with maximum points will be crowned winner of the Cup.

First Class match format will be 4 days 100 ovs per day no such thing as day night match only pure white cricket.

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The winner of League Cup will face the bottom team of Major League in a play off series and if the win they will be promoted to the Major League and loser relegated to the League Cup.

All the players will be given full time contracts and this will be a good exposure for the associate nations.

This is the ultimate system which can save Test cricket.Please show this to the ICC.

 

[TumTum]

Please show this to the ICC.

I like your idea but I don't think I can do that :confused:

 

[blake]

Needs to be a tad better thought out, I don't think going straight to that will work..

 

[Toxic Muffin]

What happens with the Ashes?

 

[McLOVIN]

Bullshit. That would 5 step backward for us. Thank God this guy isn't in the ICC.

Bdesh have Test status. Why would they play the teams that dont or not even close to getting 1?

 

[pcfan123]

FTP cannot be stopped

 

[Cricketman]

Bangladesh are good enough to compete at the test level now. I don't think they should be relegated back down to the 'plate league'.

I have always been for the idea. The logistics don't work out though, tests are 5 days long, most of them now days end in a draw, and international cricket is a global sport so traveling will be a huge headache.

I say every year top 2 teams HAVE to play a series, the winner gets some trophy or something.

 

[drainpipe32]

I'm more for have a knock-out tournament every four years or something. This four year thing doesn't really work with the Ashes and Border Gavaskar Trophy.

Unless of course you split the teams into two groups and you have them play the other teams in their group once at home and once away. Or something like that.

I'll return when I'm not thinking about exams.

 

[angryangy]

I like your idea but I don't think I can do that :confused:

a simple 'no u' would have sufficed

oh wait, not enough characters. carry on.

 

[TumTum]

a simple 'no u' would have sufficed

oh wait, not enough characters. carry on.

No txt speak remember

 

[Brook]

no u

 

[sifter132]

I really hope that the ICC goes with a plan like this. Not necessarily split up EXACTLY that what, but a simple schedule that must be stuck to and can't be doctored by India when they want to retain their mythical #1 rank

I'd like to see the 'A' teams included in the lower level somehow. Why? It would increase the quality of cricket in the lower division, help develop 2nd string players from teams that have weaker first class competitions and would also let the weaker nations tour in the top countries instead of never getting a chance to play in iconic locations like Australia, England or India.

Quality wise, I'm sure Australia A could soundly beat Argentina and probably beat all 10 of those League teams even Bangladesh. So if I were doing it I'd add the 8 'A' teams of the top teams, add whichever of UAE/Afghanistan you left out first time and find one other associate (or use Bangladesh 'A') and you could make a 3rd 10 team tier. Then I'd be using a relegation/promotion system for the top/bottom team or 2. You could make a rule that no 'A' team could ever make it into the top tier to keep Test cricket's purity intact and of course the 2nd and 3rd tier leagues wouldn't play Tests they'd be playing 4 day matches like the OP suggested.

For point scoring I'd go something like this:
6 points - Away series win
5 points - Home series win
3 points - Away series draw
2 point - Home series draw
And 2 points for every Test match won. So that there is incentive to play even if you are up 4-0 in a 5 Test series. 1 point each for a tie, nothing for a draw to encourage attacking cricket.

 

[Terminator]

when england & aus will play a series it will be called the Ashes

 

[Terminator]

^Jason i agree with what you have said but we should show this to icc or a cricket board otherwise no use of talking

as for bangla i say that its better to win 60 % of the matches than lose 98 %

FTP can be stopped after the icc wc

its the only way to save tests and i am sure it will be a hit among fans

so if there is really any icc board member here plzz try to implement it plzzz

 

[Owzat]

Bangladesh are good enough to compete at the test level now.

213/20 in two sessions begs to differ, making that their 59th defeat in just 68 Tests (86.76%) Having been (supposedly) a Test nation for TEN years you'd think they'd either have made themselves harder to beat or at least win the odd Test here and there. Noone expected them to walk into Tests and beat everyone, but they were losing nearly every game 10 years ago and they're pretty much losing every game 10 years on. Kenya should have got the nod ahead of Bangladesh, they'd caused upsets against Test nations in TWO World Cups and would have promoted cricket in Africa outside of the "white Africas" for want of a better way of putting it in a few words.

They have won three Tests, two of those against a depleted West Indies side who themselves are strugglers in Test cricket these days. The other win was against Zimbabwe, a Test nation that isn't playing Tests and hasn't for some years, a side again depleted but that did contain one or two decent players (Taibu, Taylor, Masakazda and Chigumbura who scored 231 of their 312 1st innings total and 110 of their 154 2nd innings total)



I do agree the Test Championship as it stands is nothing more than a glorified ranking system. It is still the buddy buddy system of agreeing fixtures and the composition of tours so England play Bangladesh in two Tests, but the aussies in five. The Asian teams lean towards one day cricket and now T20 is the fad, so that will congest any Test schedule. I doubt the ICC will want to commit to a long term plan and massive structure schedule for Tests with other forms of cricket becoming popular and bigger revenue bringers.

To make it a formal Championship you'd need to work with much smaller groups or knockout basis, both risking rejection by fans and countries alike as they wouldn't want to risk losing say the Ashes series. Series would definitely have to be fixed length, they should really be anyway, and three would be about the most to try and squeeze in. You'd struggle to fit more than three series into a calendar year, especially with World Cups, T20 (domestic and international) and other things. The ICC wouldn't want to commit to a new structure of any bigger proportions as I said with the ODIs and T20 being given more and more regard. Each tour really needs three months

Come up with something better, the cricketers themselves currently wouldn't commit to that kind of schedule with IPL in their minds and other things. You'll end up with plenty of retirements or players unavailable. I honestly can't see cricket moving out of the 19th century in thinking, the Ashes is way too established and neither of those countries involved would want to risk that, and they are two of the key teams in keeping TEST cricket alive. Three groups of four playing with the winners of each group playing a triangular series for the title might work. Again risks the Ashes, I can't see England or the aussies wanting to play any less than five Tests. BUT at least with fewer fixtures, any series like the Ashes could be played outside of the Championship........................... (noone said only Championship cricket could be played to constitute Test cricket)

EDIT : as for scoring systems, if everyone is playing the same number of Tests/series then simply order the group/league by Test wins. It will encourage positive cricket, declarations to produce results and not avoid defeat, make sides think more carefully about the selection of their team and get result pitches rather than five day borefests.