Four-day Tests, night Tests and two-tier Tests what else will the International Cricket Council (ICC), the world governing body for cricket come up with next in this their Centenary Year?

In the last few years the ICC has been trying its best to divert from traditional Test cricket and to try and dilute the game. The statement made by ICC chief David Morgan that Test matches be made four days to compete with Twenty20 cricket is pure baloney. Test cricket should not be sacrificed at any cost whatever the threat. The game in its long history has faced many threats and Test cricket has survived the storm.

Morgan said: “Another thought that many people have, that we are examining is whether Test match cricket can be played over four days rather than five. I would be very surprised if within a year you haven’t seen some significant changes in Test match cricket.”

Morgan felt it wouldn’t be too difficult for players to make a mental shift from five days to four. He added that Test cricket needed many more adjustments, and that special cricket balls would have to be made to facilitate night Tests in white clothing.
“We need better over-rates, better pitches that give a good balance between bat and ball and we need to consider day-night Test cricket,” Morgan said. “There is great support for it; the issue is the colour of the ball and the quality of the ball. It would be a pity if Test match cricket - day-night - had to be played with a white ball and therefore coloured clothing. We are looking very closely at ball manufacturing design that replicates a red ball, maybe an orange ball, a ball that could still allow us to play in white clothing and still at night,” he said.

Test cricket should remain the way it is - five days and should not be tampered with for the commercial threat that Twenty20 cricket is bringing to the traditional game. The ICC’s plans to switch to four-day and night cricket has not met with the approval of several past greats like former captains Greg Chappell of Australia and Imran Khan and Javed Miandad of Pakistan who have in no uncertain terms expressed their displeasure.

The two-tier structure was recently put forth by Dave Richardson, the ICC general manager for cricket, to divide the stronger and weaker teams and make the format more competitive.

Rather than waste their time talking about four-day Test cricket and all that, the ICC should spend more time on core issues like trying to get international cricket in Pakistan back on track and develop more countries to play Tests and one-day cricket. Countries like Zimbabwe, Bangladesh, Netherlands, Ireland, UAE, Canada, Scotland and Kenya should be encouraged to take up to playing longer versions of cricket with the sole aim of becoming elevated to play Test cricket. For instance the 2009 Champions trophy which is scheduled to be held in South Africa in late September-October excludes countries like Bangladesh, Zimbabwe, Kenya and Ireland because the ICC wants a shorter version of the tournament and are considering only the top eight ranked one-day teams for the competition. If this is the attitude what chance has these countries of rubbing shoulders with the established ones and improving their cricket? Bear in mind that Zimbabwe made it to the World Cup Super Six

in 2003, Bangladesh beat India which resulted in the former world champion’s first round exit from the 2007 World Cup, Ireland have performed exceptionally well in the 2007 World Cup qualifying for the Super Eights and 2009 World Twenty20 where they qualified for the Super Six, and Kenya were 2003 World Cup semi-finalists. The results alone prove that these countries have the talent and capabilities to move forward provided they are giving the necessary guidance and support which should be the ICC’s priority.

Pakistan cannot be isolated just because they have internal problems at home having to deal with terrorism. Sri Lanka somehow managed to have international tours going to their country despite having to deal with terrorism for 30 years. The ICC must be bold enough to lay down certain conditions so that nations cannot pull out of international cricket tours to Pakistan according to their whims and fancies holding the governing body to ransom.

Some years ago the ICC introduced the super-sub into one-day cricket and it resulted in the speedy exit of their CEO Malcolm Speed. Not only did the super-sub prove to be a complete failure, but when the ICC hierarchy blamed Speed for it, he transferred the blame on to Sunil Gavaskar then chairman of the ICC cricket committee. Gavaskar used his clout with the powerful Indian Cricket Board to ensure Speed did not get any further extensions. The super sub was a nightmare to some captains who did not know whether to bat first or second.

Another area which the ICC is found wanting is the introduction of the Umpire Decision Review System (UDRS) (also known as the umpires referral system) which most umpires are not in favour of although they dare not come out in the open lest they are noted and removed from the elite panel. With the advancement of technology offering the television viewer every angle of dismissal pressure on the on-field umpires have been growing. Thus it is to reduce the pressure the ICC has introduced the UDRS which allows the batting and fielding sides two referrals apiece in each innings of a Test. However the introduction of the UDRS does not hold water with the ICC’s 2008 report which says that the on field umpires got it right 83 percent of their decisions. If that is the case why would you need an UDRS? As one wag quipped you only need a referral system when Australia is playing because the umpires are always biased towards that country. In a recent article famed England umpire Dickie

Bird said that he wouldn’t have umpired if the referral system had been introduced during the time he was umpiring.
Just because of technology is available and the world is changing traditional cricket should not change. For over 130 years Test cricket has been played and for the sake of commercialism this great game should not be sacrificed or meddled with in a manner to reduce its status. The ICC it seems is gradually being drawn into the world of commercialism than tackling issues related to cricket. They first sold their first television rights of ICC events to Sony for US$ 550 million and their second TV rights to ESPN for double that figure US$ 1.1 million.

Even modern day captains and players like Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene and Younis Khan are in favour of Test cricket. They have on several occasions expressed their thoughts on how important Test cricket is. Sangakkara in a recent interview stated that Test cricket is the base for all other forms of the game. Younis even went to the extent of calling Twenty20 cricket as ‘fun cricket’ although his team went onto win the ICC World Twenty20 last month in England.
The ICC needs to get their priorities right and ensure that Test cricket is not tampered with in any form. To do so would be to court disaster to this great game enjoyed by millions around the world.

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