Cricket-Match-Special ... A forum for discussion

In terms of relegation hard to see India, England or Australia being the 7th best team in the world when their face all the team in a 2 yr period.
Really hard seeing any of those teams being relegated since it is impossible for them to lose 4-5 Test series in a row especially losing 3 home series in a trot to get relegated.
India/England/Australia would have to be really bad to get relegated ahead of Pakistan, Sri lanka, WI, NZ etc.
Really the 3 boards have decided it is pointless to worry about relegation and if it did happen they can always change the rules on a later date.
far better fixing the problem and getting more cash for the crap games than worry about something that will just never happen and if it did all boards will vote to get them reinstated in the top league or change the system again.
Suspect people won't like the idea of that and does make a mockery of it but it is really a minor point since it is like man City/united etc worrying about getting relegated from the premier league it just won't happen.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/cricke ... nty20.html
Lolz newman taking crack.
first division of seven teams playing two or three-Test series home and away but with the Ashes, more popular than ever, retaining five Tests.
wonder why the ratings for the Ashes are crap and declining massively.

Always cracks me up how the likes of Newman never actually thought how they contributed to the demise of test cricket outside England,Australia.
they always go on about the crap ashes and how Test cricket is the pinnacle but how can you expect it to be the pinnacle when you don't give a crap when England face other teams.

no one gave a toss that England were *modded* in the 80s since they won 4 or 5 crappy ashes against another crappy side Australia.
Funny part was statically the england in the 80s were worse than the 90s england side lol.

Really Ashes is the sole reason why Test cricket is dying and will die if nothing changes.


Edit wonder why Test crowd outside the Ashes in Australia are crap and let not get started on the England attendance for this summer and their pathetic TV ratings in the last 5 years.

Lolz Mark wood thinks their nothing wrong with Test cricket and would like it how it is reckon that guy needs to change nationality to WI, NZ, Sri lanka and SA.
Reckon if he wasn't english he wouldn't have that view.

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/mike- ... 73ad0d5b42
brilliant article from Athers.

Here a reply from Mike atherton on the article.
just a general reply to the replies below: lots of detail yet to be finalised. england/india/oz will not have exemption from relegation; graves and ecb are keen and accept that if england are not good enough to be in first division so be it; broadcasters are keen in principle as it would reduce number of one-sided matches and bring context and meaning (and increase viewing figures for matches in other parts of the world, if that impacted on their own region's chances of promotion and relegation; as for those in second division, actually it might increase interest because matches might be more evenly fought
michaael holding's idea that those in the second division would still get a chance to play first division teams at home is a good one
lots to chew on- but i repeat that if nothing is done, the long form of the game will continue to wither away
my own view is that cricket will struggle to spread itself over 3 forms of the game and that it should be long form/short form only (i.e. do away with 50 over cricket) and that would help underpin the long form of the game more than anything else. that won;t happen though
thanks for replies as always
mike

Apparently Graves likes the idea.

Bravo talking lots of sense unlike Wood.

From what I understand the ICCs proposals would see an additional two teams playing Test cricket, which can't be a thing. However I do feel that the current Test sides dropped down to the second division would see a decline in the quality of the cricket they produce.

It depends since I reckon ban, afg and Ireland will give them a good tests and if they really care about money they would do anything to get promoted.

Making_Splinters wrote:From what I understand the ICCs proposals would see an additional two teams playing Test cricket, which can't be a thing. However I do feel that the current Test sides dropped down to the second division would see a decline in the quality of the cricket they produce.

Because the West Indies, Bangladesh and Zimbabwe produce such awesome cricket now? The West Indies manage to scrape a home draw against England and it's touted as a fantastic achievement. They haven't won overseas against a team other than Bangladesh or Zimbabwe since 1995.

I'm sorry to say, but the likes of Bangladesh, Zimbabwe and West Indies do not belong in the same league as other test nations any more. To be honest, I think it's ridiculous that once a team is afforded test status it then has a god-given right for evermore to play against the best in the world. You should continue to have to earn it. All teams - even the big three. Especially the big 3.

I like the idea (I think it was in an article by Vaughan, no idea if he came up with it) of a four-tier league system of four teams each. Sixteen teams overall, so six associates get test status. Each team plays two games home and away against each other team in their league, for a total of 12 matches in a 2 year period (teams can play more than 2 if they want to allow for marquee series like the Ashes, but only the first two results in the series count towards the league rankings). At the end of the two-year period, the team at the top is declared champion, and the team at the bottom of each league has a two-test playoff against the team at the top of the lower league, at the home of the lower league team. Winner gains promotion (draw=status quo, but the challenger gets home advantage). Bottom team of tier 4 drops off, and the best associate team gets promoted to test div 4.

The prospects of England, India etc. being booted from the top tier should really provide some interest to the competition.

Good post wi, zim, ban, Sri Lanka and possibly Pakistan all have to earn the right to play the big guns they can be given fixtures just because they are test members.
I really hope icc does change things at least in the present time the two key bodies agree CEOs and the broadcasters.

bhaveshgor wrote:Good post wi, zim, ban, Sri Lanka and possibly Pakistan all have to earn the right to play the big guns they can be given fixtures just because they are test members.
I really hope icc does change things at least in the present time the two key bodies agree CEOs and the broadcasters.

Pakistan? They have a phenomenal record in the UAE, probably a better home record than any other side playing Test cricket.

well then they earned the right to play the big guns.
only mentioned them since it is likely they will be facing relegation in either Test/Odi/T20.
Really once Younis and Misbah go chances they will also struggle to win in the UAE as well.

Actually looking at the idea looks like the league will be interesting since it would depend on Away fixtures to decide placing since most teams are good or awesome at home.

I suppose it's actually going to make the league rather tricky to set up a point system for as all of the top sides are roughly expected to win at home, notable exceptions in the last couple of year being England winning in India and South Africa as well as Sri Lanka beating England in 2014.

A two division test cricket system will only end up like the current County Championship system, Leicestershire for example are a generation away from becoming County Champions. Likewise with Bangladesh and West Indies becoming the World's No1 test team.

Rather than promotion or relegation, why not a qualification system similar to that of the Champions Trophy and the top six qualify for a World Test Championship?

2 groups of 3, each group played in a neutral country.

For example:
Group A: Australia (1), Pakistan (3), South Africa (6) in New Zealand
Group B: India (2), England (4), New Zealand (5) in UAE

Each team plays each other once in a one-off test using a points system similar to the County Championship, this is to prevent a stalemate where all three teams in a group finish with two draws.
Top 2 in each group qualify for the semi-finals in a one off test match, played at a later date in a different country.
In the event of a drawn match in the semi-final, the group winners qualify for the final.
In the event of a drawn match in the final, a one innings decider is played after two rest days. Each team bats for one day with a minimum of 90 overs played, any overs lost to the weather will be carried over.
An additional rule to prevent lost overs if play is possible throughout the tournament - If a team has a negative over rate of more than three overs, they automatically forfeit the game.

A group stage format takes 20 days to complete, a knockout stage takes roughly 14 days to complete, which won't take an excessive amount of time in the FTP calendar.