The International Cricket Council (ICC) yesterday unveiled a long-awaited, nine-nation Test championship 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, New Zealand, 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 is to 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 would 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 is 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 launch were scuppered when some of the game’s power brokers, 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 emphasized 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.
Nottingham Forest FC are to go into the Europa League play-off round after a 4-0 win over Ferencvaros TC on Thursday, while Celtic FC secured their place in the knockout phase with a victory over FC Utrecht. Aston Villa FC finished second in the league phase after recovering from two goals down to beat FC Red Bull Salzburg 3-2 with their spot in the last 16 already assured. Forest stood an outside chance of climbing into the top eight going into the final round of matches, but needed to beat Robbie Keane’s Ferencvaros and rely on other results going their way. Sean Dyche’s
HEATED RIVALRY: The pair had met 14 times previously, with Sabalenka winning eight of the encounters and entering the final as the favorite to take the title Elena Rybakina took revenge over world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka to win a nail-biting Australian Open final yesterday and clinch her second Grand Slam title. The big-serving Kazakh fifth seed held her nerve to pull through 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 at Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne in 2 hours, 18 minutes. It was payback after the Belarusian Sabalenka won the 2023 final between two of the hardest hitters in women’s tennis. The ice-cool Rybakina, 26, who was born in Moscow, adds her Melbourne triumph to her Wimbledon win in 2022. It was more disappointment in a major final for Sabalenka, who won the US Open
Denver superstar Nikola Jokic returned from a 16-game injury absence to post a 31-point, 12-rebound double-double on Friday and propel the Nuggets to a 122-109 NBA victory over the Los Angeles Clippers. Three-time NBA Most Valuable Player Jokic had not played since suffering a bone bruise in the left knee he hyperextended in a game against Miami on Dec. 29 last year. The Serbian big man did not miss a beat. He led all scorers, connecting on eight of 11 shots from the field, and also handed out five assists with three steals while playing just 24 minutes, 32 seconds as the
BATTERED AND BRUISED: Alcaraz suffered a cramp in the third set, but was allowed treatment despite Zverev’s protests, and continued on to win in five-and-a-half hours An ailing Carlos Alcaraz battled past Alexander Zverev yesterday in five epic sets to reach his first Australian Open final and move within a match of becoming the youngest man to complete a career Grand Slam. The world No. 1 outlasted the German third seed 6-4, 7-6 (7/5), 6-7 (3/7), 6-7 (4/7), 7-5 over a titanic 5 hours, 27 minutes in hot conditions to head to tomorrow’s title match. He only narrowly avoided crashing out after a huge fright at 4-4 in the third set when he pulled up in pain with what appeared to be cramp. He was allowed to have treatment
RSS