Test cricket’s newest nations are in despair at plans to split the format into two divisions, fearing it could undo decades of hard-fought progress on the field and kill interest in the game.
Cricket’s governing body, the International Cricket Council (ICC), was meeting in Edinburgh this week to debate proposals for the seven top-ranked teams to establish a de facto premier league in a bid to boost waning interest in Tests.
Under the scheme being considered by the ICC, the other three nations with Test status would join a five-strong second division along with Afghanistan and Ireland.
While the shake-up would guarantee cricket’s leading nations play each other every other year, the other sides would be starved of matches that draw in crowds and lucrative broadcast deals.
As things stand, the two latest arrivals at cricket’s top table — Bangladesh and Zimbabwe — would be doomed to the second tier and could be joined by another relative newcomer in Sri Lanka.
“This will spell the death of international cricket as we have known it,” Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) director Ahmed Sazzadul Alam said.
Bangladesh lobbied for years to join cricket’s elite before playing their first Test in 2000. Their record has been poor, winning just seven of their 93 Tests, and they are ranked ninth, just above Zimbabwe.
However, performances have improved significantly of late and Bangladesh have only lost six of their past 18 Tests.
BCB vice president Mahbubul Anam said Bangladesh “would go backwards” if they stop playing teams such as England and India, both of whom they are due to play later this year.
“The more we play against competitive sides, the better we will get,” Anam said.
Alam also warned of dire financial consequences.
“There would be an inevitable loss of interest among younger followers of and a decline in interest from the media and sponsors,” he said. “The resulting downturn in revenues would undermine development programs and funding of domestic leagues. It will effectively mean the end of cricket for countries like us.”
Former Zimbabwe Cricket managing director Alistair Campbell said he appreciates the arguments for a split because of the gulf in class between the top and bottom sides.
However, Campbell, a former captain who played in Zimbabwe’s inaugural Test against India in 1992, said it would be heartbreaking if players would never be able to compete against the best.
“It is going to be a tragedy if you are growing up in a country like Zimbabwe or Bangladesh,” he said. “It means you might never get the opportunity to play with top-tier sides. That might drive players to go and seek greener pastures.”
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