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Test Championship playoff, ODI league on the cards
- Updated: September 9, 2016
A Test Championship playoff along with ODI and Twenty20 league structures may be adopted by member countries at the next ICC Board meeting in October, after the two-tier Test system was abandoned this week.
Alternate plans to keep afloat bilateral cricket were the main focus for the chief executives of member countries, who met in Dubai earlier this week for a two-day workshop where support for the two-tier model collapsed under BCCI pressure.
According to Haroon Lorgat, CEO of Cricket South Africa and former ICC CEO, all boards are trying to develop context for international cricket, with the best solution being a Test Championship. “That was the belief of many bearing in mind that everyone supports the primacy of international cricket,” Lorgat told ESPNcricinfo.
Lorgat said discussions will continue with the next round of ICC meetings when the Chief Executives Committee (CEC) and the Board would formally meet in Cape Town in the second week of October. “What is clear is that a few members do not support the two-tier system, so we will need to find another way to develop a Test champion using the existing rankings table.”
Lorgat also said it was the members, and not the ICC, that had taken responsibility to ensure bilateral cricket was in good health. “Media have got it wrong. Bilateral cricket is not the responsibility of the ICC. They are facilitating a process to assist the member countries to sustain fan interest by developing context.”
During his ICC tenure, Lorgat was a firm supporter of a World Test Championship to create context, and he believes it is needed to ensure that fans’ interest in bilateral cricket is sustained. “The best we might be able to do now is to build a championship model using the existing Test-rankings table to play a final between the top two teams, say every two years. Although not a perfect outcome, it could find support among all members. Doing nothing is not an option.”
A longer cycle, in …
