The second tier of test cricket

[Pratters]

The current Zimbabwe vs South Africa match has shown more than any thing in the past how much a second tier is needed to push the the teams like Zimbabwe and even Bangladesh at the moment out of the exclusive league of test cricket.

I wouldnt call the second tier test cricket but there is a definite nned for having a different competition for these teams to narrow the gap from the international sides.

I would like to include the A teams of various test countries too in such a competition.

ICC did make an effort with the Inercontinental cup.

How would you structure the second/lower levels beneath the test strata with teams in each strata etc.

 

[Deja moo]

Been debated to death. Do a search.

 

[Slow Love™]

Yep. Still in favor.

http://forum.cricketweb.net/showthread.php?t=7889

 

[James90]

The idea of the winner of the 2nd tier playing off the loser is terrible. Why? Cos there's a decent chance that the West Indies would be kicked out of test cricket

 

[FaaipDeOiad]

I actually think the ICC has the right idea now. They should however have the power if necessary to reduce test involvement of particular countries if the standard of play drops too much. Zimbabwe shouldn't lose test status, but they should be relegated to playing less test matches against the top sides for the obvious reason that they aren't competititve. I have no problem with them playing Bangladesh or anything at the moment, and once they offer some signs of improvement (as Bangladesh are doing now) they should be re-instituted into the 10 year plan. The fact is that right now a Zimbabwe tour of Australia would be a farce, but equally so kicking them out of test cricket over a short period of substandard performances is a bad idea.

The two-tier system is actually quite similar to what the ICC have now, which is that associate members play three day FC matches against one another and get tours from "A" squads from other countries. This is the right move. Promoting those associate members to semi-test status would simply result in more farcical "tests" and players of Sydney C-grade club standard achievign "test" averages of 50+.

 

[James90]

I actually think the ICC has the right idea now. They should however have the power if necessary to reduce test involvement of particular countries if the standard of play drops too much. Zimbabwe shouldn't lose test status, but they should be relegated to playing less test matches against the top sides for the obvious reason that they aren't competititve. I have no problem with them playing Bangladesh or anything at the moment, and once they offer some signs of improvement (as Bangladesh are doing now) they should be re-instituted into the 10 year plan. The fact is that right now a Zimbabwe tour of Australia would be a farce, but equally so kicking them out of test cricket over a short period of substandard performances is a bad idea.

The two-tier system is actually quite similar to what the ICC have now, which is that associate members play three day FC matches against one another and get tours from "A" squads from other countries. This is the right move. Promoting those associate members to semi-test status would simply result in more farcical "tests" and players of Sydney C-grade club standard achievign "test" averages of 50+.

Over-reacting a bit but you make a fair point

 

[James90]

Mohammad Ashraful, Mashrafe Mortaza, Enamul Haque Jnr and Tatenda Taibu deserve better. I don't think it would do them good if the best team they could play against was Zimbabwe. These four have amazing talent and could turn out to be superstars. It wouldn't be fair if they don't get the recognision or exposion they deserve because they're in a poorer standard of cricket

 

[chaminda_00]

The two-tier system is actually quite similar to what the ICC have now, which is that associate members play three day FC matches against one another and get tours from "A" squads from other countries. This is the right move. Promoting those associate members to semi-test status would simply result in more farcical "tests" and players of Sydney C-grade club standard achievign "test" averages of 50+.

The problem is that A sides don't tour the smaller teams as much as they should, ie they should be give teams from 9 to 16 one A tour a year. You get the odd A side like England (touring UAE) but it doesn't happen enough. Within any 10 year plan or whatever their should be sheduled A Tours, which there isn't currently.

 

[chaminda_00]

Mohammad Ashraful, Mashrafe Mortaza, Enamul Haque Jnr and Tatenda Taibu deserve better. I don't think it would do them good if the best team they could play against was Zimbabwe. These four have amazing talent and could turn out to be superstars. It wouldn't be fair if they don't get the recognision or exposion they deserve because they're in a poorer standard of cricket

Mate don't John Blain, JB Burger, John Davsion and Ravi Shah all deserve better as well, but does that mean that we should give Namibia, Canada, Scotland and Kenya all Test Status cus they have one or two class players. It is the quailty of the overall team that matters not the indiviuals within that team. The overall Bangla and Zimbabwe teams are probably not up to test standard but that all depends on what u believe is Test Standard. What is happening in South Africa is not Test Cricket.

 

[chris.hinton]

3 Tiers System

Tier 1 Aussies, England,India, New Zealand, South Africa,
Tier 2 Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe, Bangladesh, West Indies, Pakistan
Tier 3 Scotland, Kenya, Canada,Namibia, UAE

 

[Richard]

Sri Lanka at home can beat anyone.
Trouble with Sri Lanka is they can't travel - and India have only recently overcome that. I'd not be surprised if it was only a temporary overcoming, too.

 

[Richard]

Mate don't John Blain, JB Burger, John Davsion and Ravi Shah all deserve better as well

John Blain, certainly not!
And it ain't like John Davison, in his long Australian career, has done anything special very often, either.
Burger is one I really like the look of and Shah I've always rated reasonably highly - but in Tikolo and Otieno (Kennedy Obuya) I think Kenya have better players.

 

[Richard]

Mohammad Ashraful, Mashrafe Mortaza, Enamul Haque Jnr and Tatenda Taibu deserve better. I don't think it would do them good if the best team they could play against was Zimbabwe. These four have amazing talent and could turn out to be superstars. It wouldn't be fair if they don't get the recognision or exposion they deserve because they're in a poorer standard of cricket

Ashraful, Taibu, Enamul Haque jnr, superstars?
Typical of the propensity to overrate slightly-above-average players from the lesser sides.
All would struggle to get into the genuine Test-sides' teams - including West Indies.

 

[Richard]

I have no problem with them playing Bangladesh or anything at the moment

I certainly don't have any problem with them playing, but I do have a problem with them being called Test-matches and ODIs.

 

[Mister Wright]

So what if teams like the West Indies or possibly New Zealand have to be lowered to the 2nd tier, shouldn't that give them something to play for rather than just plodding for series to series without any purpose. Just think if one of those teams were playing a series knowing if they lost they would be out of the first tier, it would give them something to play for, and rather than playing for draws or the like there would be exciting play. If you knew that sponsorship etc were on the line it would certainly make you turn up to play and think twice about keeping that underperforming player.

 

[slugger]

i think zimbabwe and especially bangladesh entered into the test arena when it was extremely professional with contracts and corporate sponsor involvement. when other teams such pakistan, india and new zealand were rewarded with test status it was just amatures and all the experience the other teams had with each other gave them a big advantage such as west indies, eng, sth africa and australia. nz was left out of the loop for neally 30 years so they lost alot of ground, thus there first win came after 45 matches. zimbabwe and bangladesh both did it faster because of the exposure they have been granted.

nz first win match 45
zim first win match 11
bang first win match 35
s.lank first win match 14
india first win match 25

i think the first thing is all test series should be 3 games no more or less, with teams playing 5 rest series it only extends the gap over teams not granted 5 matches , after a year a handful of teams are always playing 10 or 12 more games. thats experince other teams can never catch up to, this gap will keep growing, eventually giving no team a sniff of competing. forget the tier system just reduce all series down to the same number for all teams, this will level out the teams.

not doing so it is like saying michael schumacher will always have a five lap headstart or manchester always granted extra time with only the oppostion goalie hanging about.

 

[SpeedKing]

Mate don't John Blain, JB Burger, John Davsion and Ravi Shah all deserve better as well, but does that mean that we should give Namibia, Canada, Scotland and Kenya all Test Status cus they have one or two class players. It is the quailty of the overall team that matters not the indiviuals within that team. The overall Bangla and Zimbabwe teams are probably not up to test standard but that all depends on what u believe is Test Standard. What is happening in South Africa is not Test Cricket.

thank You. Someone has stated this before and i strongly feel it will work. Teams like:

Zimbabwe, Bangladesh, Kenya and other teams on the fringes

Play with A Teams of the well off teams like England, Australia, New Zealand, India etc.

this would benefit everyone as the big teams can learn about up and coming talent and the other teams can get their players used to the concept of test cricket as they get to play with players of a more or less similar standard. There should be rating and the top two teams get to plays a few series against the top teams and see how they fair. Abit like the relegation and promotion method used in English County cricket and on a larger scale in football.

 

[Neil Pickup]

It is undoubtedly the future for teams stepping up to Test level in the future, but for Bangladesh, demotion will only set back the profile of the game in the country and hurt its development.

 

[SpeedKing]

It is undoubtedly the future for teams stepping up to Test level in the future, but for Bangladesh, demotion will only set back the profile of the game in the country and hurt its development.

True that Bangaldesh have finally started getting in a few good performances and i will agree with you that they should be left there. But Zimbabwe. Oh My Days that was not test cricket they were playing yesterday. Decent perfomance though in their second innings.

 

[Neil Pickup]

True that Bangaldesh have finally started getting in a few good performances and i will agree with you that they should be left there. But Zimbabwe. Oh My Days that was not test cricket they were playing yesterday. Decent perfomance though in their second innings.

The Zimbabwean cricket team is nothing more than a political pawn of Mad Bob.

The whole country needs the Apartheid treatment, and being ostracised from International relations.