C_C
International Captain
Weather has no bearing : what i am proposing is a primiership-style league where each team plays another 'home and away'. You don't need to camp out in one country for six months to play 18 tests.How would 18 Tests a side be doable when there's only a relatively short period when games can be played without being ruined by the weather?
There is a "reset" in the current rankings in that games lessen in value as time goes by.
Actually, i think it'd be better if they made it a two-year championship. That way it'd be 9 matches/year for the championship : a good and healthy amount of test cricket for all, while leaving room for iconic series like the Ashes or India-Pakistan.
I don't like this ' score become less valuable with time and eventually drops off' fade-away system. I'd prefer if we had simple league scorings and every two years, the championship resets.
I don't mind the idea of relegation/promotion from associate members list either : have the bottom two teams relegate and top two from the associate list come up to the top.
If not anything, it'd hasten the development of cricket in bangladesh/zimbabwe and the associate countries will have an everpresent incentive to keep improving rather than the 'once-in-a-four-year-world-cup' stuff.
The only problem i can foresee with this picture is that it'd take Bangladesh/Zimbabwe atleast 10 years ( 5 championships) to start catching up to the weakest 'real' teams ( WI ? NZ ? ) and so they'll be bouncing in and out of the league every two years. In their place, we'd have teams like Kenya or Holland play test cricket every two years for that period and that'd jeopardize any world record.
I'd not fancy seeing Ponting batting against Kenya in a test : Lara's 501* would be a goner.