Should Test Cricket be Split Into Two Groups?

[G_B_]

Ok. I have to be upfront. I am bored following India v SL. Its one sided in the test arena. 

 

I really enjoyed Zim v SL. Which was a good tough fight. This current situation is a slow death with barely 3-4 series worth anything in terms of fan entertainment. 

 

Take the risk and split test cricket into 6-6 teams. With number 6 and number 7 playing a test in neutral conditions to decide promotion ever 2 years.

 

 

[lanka-girln]

37 minutes ago, G_B_ said:

Ok. I have to be upfront. I am bored following India v SL. Its one sided in the test arena. 

 

I really enjoyed Zim v SL. Which was a good tough fight. This current situation is a slow death with barely 3-4 series worth anything in terms of fan entertainment. 

 

Take the risk and split test cricket into 6-6 teams. With number 6 and number 7 playing a test in neutral conditions to decide promotion ever 2 years.

 

 

yes it would be Good.... Top teams like India, Australia, England ,SA, Pak and NZ in top tier and SL, Zim and Bangladesh and other in second tier ...

[Tibarn]

I think 2 groups of test teams would make a lot of sense. Some of the matches we have played vs Windies, Lanka, Bangladesh, in the last few years have been unbearable. It feels like we haven't been challenged in those tests, and that Chandimal's innings was a legendary one for making a series competitive which otherwise wouldn't have been. 

 

Now that Ireland and AFG are part of test cricket, the ICC can easily divide up the nations with an emphasis on more competitive cricket.

 

There are now 12 test teams and rankings wise

the top 6 are: India, SA, Aus, Eng, NZ, Pak

the bottom 6 are: SL, WI, Bang, Zim, AFG, Ireland

 

The ICC can make a cycle where teams in each group of 6 play each other and then the top performer of the bottom 6 and worst performer of the top 6 play a series to determine who gets promoted/relegated. 

 

The only problem is that the big money making teams Ind, Aus, Eng are all in the top 6. If these teams don't tour the others, especially if India doesn't tour, then Test cricket isn't financially viable in those lower tier countries. The trade-off for keeping Test cricket "alive" and "growing" is to have crappy Test matches with sub-par teams.   If we want a high quality of Test cricket, then we'll have to start chopping teams off. I personally favor cutting out teams which aren't financially viable in Test cricket. 

 

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India

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[Lannister]

Such series should be used to blood youngsters. But BCCI are too stupid and will be their own downfall in the long run. 

[velu]

this is what our cement mama tried to implement 

 

[putrevus]

If you have two tier system then you have to relegate even top teams if they are not performing well.Will they stop playing iconic series like Ashes if say England is relegated to second tier. If they cannot do that then there is no purpose of two tier system.Weak teams should have incentive of being promoted if they are doing well and strong teams should have fear of relegation if they falter. 

[NareshK]

3 hours ago, Lannister said:

Such series should be used to blood youngsters. But BCCI are too stupid and will be their own downfall in the long run. 

Tests should not be used for blooding youngsters. Perhaps for a dead rubber game but not whole series. If you play a debutante in test side, he should have earned a place as a permanent member. Some of the bilateral ODIs and T20s can be used for that purpose.

Edited August 3, 2017 by NareshK

[G_B_]

the problem is i guess series like the ashes keep happening at a drop of a hat and india dont play pakistan.

 

But seriously there needs to be a big test pool where the big countries say chip in say 5 million a year so that those in the bottom tier can afford to play and host test cricket.

 

The status quo is like certain death. India are doing really well and i dont care what happens in this series.

[zen]

May be even 3 groups of 4 teams each with bottom two teams of grp A swapping places with top two of grp B for the next season. Similar arrangement b/w grp B and C

 

In this way the winner and runners up of each group is rewarded  

 

 

[sourab10forever]

Won't work with cricket.

For the teams in the lower tier-Revenue kaha see aayega? They will stop playing  more tests and move towards LoIs

 

[BeautifulGame]

But how will the weak teams improve if not by playing against stronger sides.

 

Also the revenue side of it.The likes of Srilanka n Windies might stop playing test cricket if the money from India tours stop coming .

 

But this can't continue either.Total one sided boring contests practically no one watches.

 

Total mess.

[sourab10forever]

10 hours ago, G_B_ said:

the problem is i guess series like the ashes keep happening at a drop of a hat and india dont play pakistan.

 

But seriously there needs to be a big test pool where the big countries say chip in say 5 million a year so that those in the bottom tier can afford to play and host test cricket.

 

The status quo is like certain death. India are doing really well and i dont care what happens in this series.

Yes the tier 1 boards can give a share to the tier-2 boards but it isn't good in the long term.

Won't improve the chances of tests surviving.

[LordPrabhzy]

8 hours ago, BeautifulGame said:

But how will the weak teams improve if not by playing against stronger sides.

 

Also the revenue side of it.The likes of Srilanka n Windies might stop playing test cricket if the money from India tours stop coming .

 

But this can't continue either.Total one sided boring contests practically no one watches.

 

Total mess.

So what is your solution?

 

Even with the revenue generated from playing top test nations, likes of Bang, SL and WI have detoriated in test quality over the last 5 years. Tbh if they stop playing test cricket, the only negative outcome of that would be the reduction of freebie series for the likes of Ind and Aus to improve their team/player rankings and averages. Other than that these three countries are doing virtually nothing for test cricket.

[express bowling]

The solution, according to me, is having long series among similar ranked teams and short series among teams who have a huge difference in ranks,.  The ICC should ensure this unless iconic series like the Ashes or Border-Gavaskar Trophy are involved.

 

Say 1 and 2   or 1 and 3    or 7 and 8 are playing.... then have a 5 test series.

 

Say 1 and 7 are playing.... then have a 1 test series.

 

Say 1 and 5     or 5 and 10 are playing .... then have a 3 test series and so on.

 

This will ensure that everyone plays every one but most matches will be competitive.

Edited August 4, 2017 by express bowling

[Tibarn]

6 hours ago, express bowling said:

The solution, according to me, is having long series among similar ranked teams and short series among teams who have a huge difference in ranks,.  The ICC should ensure this unless iconic series like the Ashes or Border-Gavaskar Trophy are involved.

 

Say 1 and 2   or 1 and 3    or 7 and 8 are playing.... then have a 5 test series.

 

Say 1 and 7 are playing.... then have a 1 test series.

 

Say 1 and 5     or 5 and 10 are playing .... then have a 3 test series and so on.

 

This will ensure that everyone plays every one but most matches will be competitive.

The problem there is that a long series between certain teams will hemorrhage money. If 7-8 is Lanka vs Windies, then 5 tests will drain the budget of whatever team is hosting. The generally weaker teams need long tours from Ind/Aus/Eng to balance the budget from when they host test matches. 

[Khota]

It should just die.

[Scar]

people are over-reacting a bit here,  we are no.1 team in the world and beast of it's own kind in SC, it was always going to be one-sided but that doesn't make lanka a weak teams who recently whitewashed Australia. 

 

IMO, teams like lanka who are going through transition should play champions  like us to aspire to become one. 

 

Truth is, very very few teams can competition to India in SC and this series is more of a result of recondite behemoth team India is, and hardly about the scaffolds of platitude regarding lanla being a weak team.