Dileep Premachandran’s piece today on Bangladeshi cricket raised an interesting question about the number of Tests that teams such as Bangladesh should play.
The option of just having them play Zimbabwe every five minutes, which might have had some merit in different circumstances, is obviously unavailable given the current situation. Does this mean, I wonder, that there is a case for a two-tier Test championship?
In effect, a two-tier (or at least lop-sided) championship already exists. Certain teams (such as England and Australia) play each other a lot more often than others, whilst some teams (Bangladesh) average little more than one Test a year.
What if there was, say, a three year cycle which split the top five in the ICC rankings from the rest, with each team in playing each of the others in their group? Given that this would mean quite a few less Tests than there are currently, it might also be possible to fit in an extra series or two for “commercial reasons”. This would mean that there would still be scope for the likes of Bangladesh to take on the big boys, whilst providing them with the prospect of winning the odd Test against other sides at the ‘wrong’ end of the Test rankings.
Maybe I’m talking rubbish, but this seems no worse an idea than the current set-up.
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