Revamp prioritises quality over quantity
TEST cricket will get a grand final and meaningless one-day games will be axed after the International Cricket Council agreed to make every match worth winning.
The first World Test League Championship Final will be held in 2021 after nine Test nations play six series each over two years – three home and three away – most likely beginning with the 2019 Ashes.
Series can be two to five games and points will be allocated by a system yet to be decided. Then every two years the top two nations will face off in a clash to decide Test cricket’s best team, with a huge cash prize on offer.
The changes could cost two Tests per nation per calendar year, but Cricket Australia boss James Sutherland said the increased context around every individual match would negate any loss of games.
“I think the prestige and engagement with Test cricket will be higher if we make it more precious,” Sutherland said yesterday.
“This is a really significant moment in international cricket history. This is the first time there has been broad structure and context for international cricket.
“In their own way, series between countries have their own context.
‘‘But the broader context of a league and championship provides … a really strong narrative for fans.
“Every game will have context and meaning, not just for the two countries playing but for third-party countries who results could impact on.”
One-day cricket faces the biggest change with every series after the 2019 World Cup limited to three matches.
Every match will have a bearing on qualification for the next World Cup.
While there will be fewer ODIs, there will be a greater spread of games between 13 nations in each four-year peri- od. The one-day changes mean that Australia must at some stage in a World Cup cycle play matches against ‘‘minnows’’ like Ireland, Afghanistan and potentially the Netherlands.
Sutherland said fewer Tests and ODIs would open the schedule for more Twenty20 cricket, be it international or in domestic series like the Big Bash League.
The ICC also approved a trial of four-day Tests beginning with a match this summer between South Africa and Zimbabwe under a set of standard playing conditions yet to be finalised.
Sutherland said it was “highly unlikely” that Australia would take part in the trials.