Players back two-tier Test format

As a select group of senior administrators meet in Dubai to finalise a proposed model for radical changes to crickets schedule, the players have warned of a massed exodus to Twenty20 leagues if nothing is done.

An ICC working group of board chief executives, including the Cricket Australia CEO James Sutherland, the ECB's Tom Harrison, the BCCI's Ajay Shirke, the PCB's Subhan Ahmed, South Africa's Haroon Lorgat and New Zealand's David White are working with ICC management to finalise proposals for a new international structure.

The model will feature leagues for all formats of the international game with greater equity in terms of fixtures for all nations, with the aim of pooling television rights so that richer boards can subsidise weaker counterparts. The pathway for admission to the top of the international game will also be opened up, an attractive prospect for Associates like Ireland and Afghanistan.

However, opposition to the prospect of two-tier Test cricket, championed by the Sri Lanka Cricket president Thilanga Sumathipala and latterly BCCI president Anurag Thakur, now poses a significant danger to the adoption of the proposed changes. The BCCI has shown increasing belligerence over the past week, questioning funding levels for next year's Champions Trophy in England and suggesting the ICC president Shashank Manohar is not serving India's interests.

On Monday, the players' global body FICA stepped into this burning environment, revealing that 72 per cent of players quizzed for the body's annual survey are in favour of "the introduction of a divisional Test competition to add more meaning to each match".

FICA executive chairman Tony Irish urged the ICC Board to carefully consider the new model under consideration.

"To date, the issue that has been talked about most is Test cricket," Irish said, "but we believe that this review is about creating clear visions for all three formats of international cricket, and balancing them alongside the continued expansion and success of the various domestic T20 cricket leagues. We know from our player surveys, and our engagement with players, that they are facing a conflict between international cricket and domestic T20 cricket leagues," Irish told ESPNcricinfo.

"This is a fundamental issue that we want any future structure of the game to address. Our concern is that if nothing is done, international cricket may very soon lose more and more of its best players to free agency and the T20 leagues.

"This re-structuring of international cricket should be about providing a better sporting product for fans, players and broadcasters. ICC management has done some excellent work on this, and we strongly encourage Member Boards to look beyond their own individual country interests in taking this forward. We understand that not everyone is in agreement over the divisional Test structure currently proposed, but this should not derail the entire process," he added.

Australia captain Steven Smith and South Africa's AB de Villiers are also of the same opinion. "We want our best players to be on the park as much as possible playing for our countries," Smith said, "and at the moment that isn't always happening."

--IANS

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