The ICC has failed in its role as guardian of the game by deciding to postpone the Test Championship, says All Out Cricket columnist Rohan Kallicharan.
“The ICC should look at what is in the best interests of the game, not what is going to pay the most.” Pertinent words from England captain Andrew Strauss when discussing the need for Test match cricket to retain its sovereignty in the game. But he surely knew, as most of us did, that the ICC would continue to fail in its role as guardian of the sport.
It was cricket’s worst kept secret that the game’s governing body would ‘postpone’ any Test Championship for a minimum of four years until 2017. From the outside looking in, it seems that the meeting of the ICC Chief Executives’ Committee in September 2010 to introduce ‘context and structure to the Future Tours Programme (FTP) and ICC events’ was a smokescreen, or at best a complete waste of time. Let’s take a look at clauses 1 and 2 of the approved Future Tours Programme:
1. The FTP should consist of a Test league to provide context for all Test matches. The league would determine the top four teams to qualify for an ICC Test play-off
2. The play-off should be held once every four years to determine the Test champion team with a request to hold the first such play-off in 2013
You probably won’t be surprised to learn that the World ODI League (clause 3), to be held between 2011 and 2014, has not commenced either. To continue the theme, clause 4 confirmed the reduction of the World Cup to 10 teams from 2015. In case you’ve forgotten, after heavy criticism the ICC realised that this was a huge mistake and reverted to a larger 14-team competition. And to round things off, the 2012 ICC World Twenty20 – which it was decided would be expanded to 16 teams – will be held in Sri Lanka next year … with 12 sides competing.
Consider the above for a moment and – allied to the fact that it took a discredited tabloid to uncover the spot-fixing scandal and that certain countries seem able to pick and choose when they use the DRS system – is it any wonder that the ICC is held in contempt by so many?
The Future Tours Programme has been described as a lottery by some, and that is a kind perception. It has almost totally obliterated the concept of a five-match Test series, and more or less rendered obsolete the three-match version. Teams are now flying in and out of one country after another for a few weeks to play two Test Matches – plus, of course, five ODIs and the obligatory Twenty20 International.
The concept of the programme is that “countries will meet each other in a series of ‘stand-alone’ bilateral matches, interspersed with windows for ICC Events and the Champions League.” In English, over a period of four years, every team will play each other at home and away, with no title at stake and no games scheduled during the Champions League. Add in the reluctance to schedule international matches during the IPL period – which is not an official window despite gaping like an open door – and a scheduling crisis is clearly evident.
Moreover, neither supporters nor players find it easy to motivate themselves for a meaningless two-match series against a team they played just a couple of months previously. The Test Championship gave meaning and context to a calendar otherwise cluttered with mess. Without it, teams have little at stake when they pop over to Bangladesh for a fortnight, and will thus continue to leave their best players at home for a rest until a meaningful series comes along.
The results are twofold. Firstly, Bangladesh are not going to improve playing anybody’s reserves and their supporters are robbed of seeing the world’s best in action. And even more importantly, there should never be an occasion on which a side enters a Test match without the best XI available to that nation. Test cricket should be a matter of national pride.
The further Test cricket is devalued, the more likely it is that top class players will choose the mercenary ‘freelance’ route; they want to play in meaningful cricket, and to be paid for it, regardless of it being international, domestic or pick ‘n’ mix franchise. The Future Tours Programme should have been devised with only the best interests of the international game in mind. This has simply not been the case, and the postponement of the Test Championship further demerits it. It lacks context, meaning and structure, and reduces global interest.
I, for one, do not envy the job of the ICC; trying to balance revenue and popularity via so many global avenues and across so many nations with differing cricketing and cultural values. That said, cricket is at a precipice and the sound of the ground crumbling beneath them should have the game’s guardians trembling in their boots. The sport, in its purest form, is in a parlous situation.
Test Championship Delay Is A Cruel Blow To The Game
The ICC has failed in its role as guardian of the game by deciding to postpone the Test Championship, says All Out Cricket columnist Rohan Kallicharan.
“The ICC should look at what is in the best interests of the game, not what is going to pay the most.” Pertinent words from England captain Andrew Strauss when discussing the need for Test match cricket to retain its sovereignty in the game. But he surely knew, as most of us did, that the ICC would continue to fail in its role as guardian of the sport.
It was cricket’s worst kept secret that the game’s governing body would ‘postpone’ any Test Championship for a minimum of four years until 2017. From the outside looking in, it seems that the meeting of the ICC Chief Executives’ Committee in September 2010 to introduce ‘context and structure to the Future Tours Programme (FTP) and ICC events’ was a smokescreen, or at best a complete waste of time. Let’s take a look at clauses 1 and 2 of the approved Future Tours Programme:
1. The FTP should consist of a Test league to provide context for all Test matches. The league would determine the top four teams to qualify for an ICC Test play-off
2. The play-off should be held once every four years to determine the Test champion team with a request to hold the first such play-off in 2013
You probably won’t be surprised to learn that the World ODI League (clause 3), to be held between 2011 and 2014, has not commenced either. To continue the theme, clause 4 confirmed the reduction of the World Cup to 10 teams from 2015. In case you’ve forgotten, after heavy criticism the ICC realised that this was a huge mistake and reverted to a larger 14-team competition. And to round things off, the 2012 ICC World Twenty20 – which it was decided would be expanded to 16 teams – will be held in Sri Lanka next year … with 12 sides competing.
Consider the above for a moment and – allied to the fact that it took a discredited tabloid to uncover the spot-fixing scandal and that certain countries seem able to pick and choose when they use the DRS system – is it any wonder that the ICC is held in contempt by so many?
The Future Tours Programme has been described as a lottery by some, and that is a kind perception. It has almost totally obliterated the concept of a five-match Test series, and more or less rendered obsolete the three-match version. Teams are now flying in and out of one country after another for a few weeks to play two Test Matches – plus, of course, five ODIs and the obligatory Twenty20 International.
The concept of the programme is that “countries will meet each other in a series of ‘stand-alone’ bilateral matches, interspersed with windows for ICC Events and the Champions League.” In English, over a period of four years, every team will play each other at home and away, with no title at stake and no games scheduled during the Champions League. Add in the reluctance to schedule international matches during the IPL period – which is not an official window despite gaping like an open door – and a scheduling crisis is clearly evident.
Moreover, neither supporters nor players find it easy to motivate themselves for a meaningless two-match series against a team they played just a couple of months previously. The Test Championship gave meaning and context to a calendar otherwise cluttered with mess. Without it, teams have little at stake when they pop over to Bangladesh for a fortnight, and will thus continue to leave their best players at home for a rest until a meaningful series comes along.
The results are twofold. Firstly, Bangladesh are not going to improve playing anybody’s reserves and their supporters are robbed of seeing the world’s best in action. And even more importantly, there should never be an occasion on which a side enters a Test match without the best XI available to that nation. Test cricket should be a matter of national pride.
The further Test cricket is devalued, the more likely it is that top class players will choose the mercenary ‘freelance’ route; they want to play in meaningful cricket, and to be paid for it, regardless of it being international, domestic or pick ‘n’ mix franchise. The Future Tours Programme should have been devised with only the best interests of the international game in mind. This has simply not been the case, and the postponement of the Test Championship further demerits it. It lacks context, meaning and structure, and reduces global interest.
I, for one, do not envy the job of the ICC; trying to balance revenue and popularity via so many global avenues and across so many nations with differing cricketing and cultural values. That said, cricket is at a precipice and the sound of the ground crumbling beneath them should have the game’s guardians trembling in their boots. The sport, in its purest form, is in a parlous situation.