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Tiered Test System


bsriharsha

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Pretty sure this topic has been done to the death , But it's clear that evenly matched teams provide better contests.

 

Why not have a two tiered test championship system where the teams compete against opponents closer to their skill level. The Ashes and the BG still can happen as a bilateral agreements but won't count for championship points. The money isn't in tests anyway , So you can still have teams like Sri Lanka hosting an Indian ODI/T20 side for a LOI series. If there's a clash there with another test series, send the reserves across to that odi series while ensuring the test team remains undisturbed. Promotion and Relegation between the 5th place team and the 6th place one with 3 matches (1 home/1 away/1 neutral) after two years.

The problem with tests is that there's a vast inequality between the top 4-5 and then the rest. That makes tests boring especially.

Edited by bsriharsha
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8 minutes ago, bsriharsha said:

So you can still have teams like Sri Lanka hosting an Indian ODI/T20 side for a LOI series

how is this not boring? India can win with a B team against current sri lankan team in any format. If unevenly matched sides means there shouldn't be games at all, india wouldn't have got a single tour to any SENA country in 80s and 90s. How will any team improve in that system? 

Edited by Serpico
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Terrible idea.

People always get carried away when one team wins a few games.

If a few things went wrong in the recently completed series we'd be looking at both teams very differently.

 

I am of the belief that weaker teams need the opportunities to face better opposition. It also provides the chance of an upset taking place.

 

We don't play Pakistan, barely play Lanka or Bangla these days. I'd like to see teams playing more variety

 

 

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These tiered systems, relegations only work if there are 20-30 teams.

 

Test cricket is niche in terms of how many teams play it.. it has always been between unevenly matched sides since its inception. Since the beginning of test cricket, strong teams have been giving out drubbing to weaker teams regularly. There has not been a single time in the history when there were 5-6 evenly matched test teams in the world.

 

Closest was in mid 2000s when australia-SA-india-SL-Pak all had good teams.. and even then Aus was clearly in its own league. Even SA couldn't compete with them until 2008 when McWarne retired.

 

If Tiered system was implemented, That Aussie team would have sat idle for an entire decade because no other team in the world could be placed in the same tier. Some of the best Series of all time.. 2001 B-G and 2005 Ashes were classics because that team was unbeatable.. people were surprised and shocked that they happened which made them all time classic series. If tiered system was implemented, we would have missed them 

 

 

 

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37 minutes ago, Serpico said:

how is this not boring? India can win with a B team against current sri lankan team in any format. If unevenly matched sides means there shouldn't be games at all, india wouldn't have got a single tour to any SENA country in 80s and 90s. How will any team improve in that system? 


I'm mentioning that If tours by India to them are that vital from the revenue standpoint , Send the T20 team with the t20 regulars to them. 


There actually is a tiered system right now atleast informally. How many games do you see England play in Srilanka now? A max of a 2 test matches in a series. They clearly would be wanting to play more tests against India. 

Atleast with a tiered system, Srilanka potentially can play more tests against say Bangladesh, Pakistan. We still have the likes of Ireland and Afghanistan now who are granted test status and they barely get enough games. Atleast with the Tiered structure, You can ensure that Ireland and Afghanistan get to play their share of the tests.

If these teams do want to improve and show that they want to play with the better teams, Let them qualify for the top league by winning this one. You need to have context to any particular match. Right now, The teams can underperform knowing that they won't have their test status removed etc etc too. This if anything should provide improvement as well for the teams in the B Tier. 

There will always be exceptions where the likes of England / India / Aus slip up and end up in the B league. If that happens so be it, The Ashes can still take place as it's a historic series. Other bilateral arrangements like the BG can still happen. 

Edited by bsriharsha
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Not enough nations for a tiered system.

But ICC need to subsidise some of these series. Too often likes of NZ, Pak, Ban, WI, SL play 1 or 2 game series. 

 

Pak, NZ, Bangla are quite competitive at home and should be hosting three match series but financially struggle. 3 Tests x 5 days vs 5 ODIs x 1 day, you can see financially which is safer and more attractive for cricket boards and sponsors.

 

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1 minute ago, chewy said:

Pak, NZ, Bangla are quite competitive at home and should be hosting three match series but financially struggle. 3 Tests x 5 days vs 5 ODIs x 1 day, you can see financially which is safer and more attractive for cricket boards and sponsors.


Doubt Pak and Bangla cricket boards are that financially weak that they do not play 3 test series. NZ board makes it a mandate to have 2 test series due to the dictation by the TV right companies. And the point is that they still do not host Ireland and Afghanistan enough. How are the likes of Ireland and Afghanistan to improve if they aren't invited to tours by even a country like Windies etc even if not Australia or India. A 2 Tiered system would in theory ensure that Afghan and Ireland have enough matches too

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46 minutes ago, bsriharsha said:

Atleast with a tiered system, Srilanka potentially can play more tests against say Bangladesh, Pakistan. We still have the likes of Ireland and Afghanistan now who are granted test status and they barely get enough games. Atleast with the Tiered structure, You can ensure that Ireland and Afghanistan get to play their share of the tests.

This is an assumption you are making.. that if India stops playing tests with lanka, they will play 3 test series with BD and Pak or play with ireland and afghan.. thats not how it works. There is no huge demand from Lankan fans that their team should play minimum 8 tests every year no matter the opposition. Sri Lanka vs Ireland test match will result in financial loss regardless of whether india plays with lanka or not. If only revenues are considered, its better for sri lankan board to stop playing tests all together and only organize bilateral LOIs.. only reason they don't do it is to not lose test status and funding from ICC

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