Its reported that Jay Shah the new Chair of the ICC plans to meet those who run cricket in India, Australia and England with a view to looking at how global Test cricket is run in future and who plays who.
One plan seems to be a two tier system where those teams are in the top division and others in a second division. The issue is whether this would be permanent or a relegation and promotion system would operate.
It sounds rather like the football European Super League which was mooted a couple of years ago but did not proceed.
As Michael Atherton has argued in the Times (8th January) it would be a ‘cosy anti-competitive world, beloved of franchise and private equity’. It would be a spectacle no longer the classic ebb and flow of cricket.
Atherton makes another point. Namely that what Shah is looking at already up to a point de facto exists. India, Australia and England already play each other more frequently than other Test playing nations. To illustrate the point is a graphic showing that Joe Root has played 152 Tests in his career out of which 64 have been against India or Australia
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