Zimbabwe will play four day test cricket along with Afghans & Irish from 2020 in Tier 2 System

Kriterion_BD wrote: ↑Sat Oct 14, 2017 3:11 am

jaybro wrote: ↑Fri Oct 13, 2017 9:55 pm

Kriterion_BD wrote: ↑Fri Oct 13, 2017 3:47 pm

The Irish seem to be on board with the 4-day concept.

I think ZIM can definitely get 5-day Tests with the Afghans and BD, and probably from the WI, SL, PAK because a draw in 4 days would not be a good result from their perspective.

Tests should always be 5 days. What this means is that 4-day matches are basically just first-class now.

Will Zimbabwe get to play the top 9 in Tests ??

I hope so. Taylor and Jarvis (as well as Ervine and Cremer) deserve to play vs the top 9 and it would be an injustice.

Thats the biggest flaw of the 9-3 league. If each of the 9 plays just 1 series in a cycle vs the 3...thats 3 series each for the developing sides. The Big 3 would probably only play a single Test but the other 4 could easily play 2. And it should be that the points count so that Australia wont just send their A team to play Ireland.

But I guess the ICC has had other ideas all along.

Kriterion_BD wrote: ↑Sat Oct 14, 2017 5:30 pm

Black Mamba wrote: ↑Sat Oct 14, 2017 4:19 am

ICC is correct, one or two test wins should'nt make the weak teams to play against stronger nations.Weaker nations should try to be relentless first, facing the opposition of their merit, then they should be promoted to face the strong teams.

Zimbabwe, Afghans & Irish playing full series with 3 four day tests, odis, t20s doesn't look bad till Test Championship gets over.

ICC has done great thing marginalizing test format into Tier 1 for stronger nations and Tier 2 for the weak nations. Bangladesh with one - two test wins is lucky to be in Tier 1. Questions bound to arise if they did'nt perform.

Finally, great to ICC globalizing the shorter format cricket, with 13 teams odi league, weak nations will have the chance to face stronger nations in home away basis. Hope, we get 20 T20 Teams in World T20 Event as ICC is targetting T20 as the tool of globalizing cricket, scraping Champions Trophy, thus giving busy schedules for all cricket playing nations including the associates.

If you consider context and trend analyses, Bangladesh looks less lucky. For example, Bangladesh hasn't lost a series at home in 2 and half years. Major sides like England and Australia have been unable to come away with series wins in BD. I'd say the Windies are far luckier given they have won maybe a dozen Tests in the last 10 years...Bangladesh have won 3 in the last 10 months. But even the Windies deserve their shot having recently won in the UAE and England of all places. Its all about RECENT trends, and to be frank there isn't much of a gap between #5 and #9. Even the ICC rankings will attest to that.

A month ago I wouldn't have complained about the bottom 3 being left out of the League...even now its not so much the 9-3 split that is problematic, but rather how that split works. But now that Jarvis and Taylor are back, ZIM deserve opportunities because they are demonstrating they take this game seriously enough to invest in their best players.

The problem with this league is, The bottom 3 have little to no guarantees of fixtures vs the top 9. They need to be part of the FTP and they need to have a clear idea of which big teams they will play when so that they can plan accordingly. England will play 30 games in the 2 year cycles, maybe more. Bangladesh will play 12-15. They should both be able to fit in 1-2 Tests vs the little 3. How are ZIM, IRE, AFG supposed to develop and one day join the League if they dont get a fair number of opportunities?

The ICC should look to grow the game and strengthen it in the 12 countries in which it has some roots. Not just focus on an elite 9 within that already small dozen.

Kriterion_BD wrote: ↑Sat Oct 14, 2017 3:11 am
Taylor and Jarvis (as well as Ervine and Cremer) deserve to play vs the top 9 and it would be an injustice.

jaybro wrote: ↑Sun Oct 15, 2017 8:28 pm
You forgot to mention Zimbabwe got thrashed by Bangladesh

From suggestions to extend sessions of play by ten minutes, to pleas to leave the experimenting with other formats, here are current and former players' thoughts on four-day Test cricket.

Heath Streak: How about 97 overs a day?

The Zimbabwe coach spoke to the Daily Observer - his team will be playing the first official four-day Test, from Boxing Day against South Africa. He said: "I am a fan of four-day Tests. I would recommend an extra 10 minutes of play in every session of play. This will bring an extra half hour on all four days. The extra 30 minutes of play can bring seven overs more on each day of the Test, and total of 97 overs [versus the current 90 overs per day] will bring excitement to the game. This extra time will be able to bring results to the game and it will be good for the game."

Dean Elgar: Don't mess with Test cricket

When the four-day game against Zimbabwe was announced, the South Africa Test opener had some strong words for the whole idea: "I'm a five-day Test specialist, and it must stay that way in my opinion. I don't think you should tinker with something that's not broken. If you go and play around the world, Test cricket is followed quite well. If you play in Australia, if you play in England, even if you play in South Africa against the relatively big nations you still get very good crowds. There are other formats that are being experimented with. I don't see why Test cricket should suffer. I am purist when it comes to that. Hopefully the game can have longevity in the five-day format."

Michael Vaughan: Money is lost on empty fifth days

The former England captain in his column in the Daily Telegraph spoke of the difficulties five days bring: "I like the idea of trialling four-day cricket and I have no doubt in the future the [Test] league will be based on four days. The average Test match lasts for 331 overs. Yes, we still have great fifth days. We have had drama on the last day in recent years, particularly at Headingley this summer when West Indies beat England, but the majority of matches finish inside four days. Teams will have to play four-day cricket a bit differently. They might have to declare and set a game up if it rains. You do that in four-day first-class cricket already. I can understand those that say Test cricket is the greatest format because it is the only level of the game when you play over five days. It requires different skills but the bigger picture is scheduling and the amount of money lost on the fifth day when grounds are empty. The powers that be keep telling me that they lose money on the last day. Make that public then people might understand a little bit more."

Kane Williamson: The game comes first

The New Zealand captain admitted to sitting on the fence in the matter: "Speaking on the four-day, five-day thing, I guess four-day first-class cricket is not new to anybody. I think everyone in world cricket plays four-day first-class cricket, so time will tell to see what evolves in that area, but the Test games with five days is still fairly effective. We are seeing so many results these days as well and the brand of cricket is certainly improving, but I don't really have a strong view either way just yet. I think whatever way we go, it is important that it does benefit the game."

Darren Lehmann: Five-day cricket might kill off some members

The Australia coach in an ABC interview: "I certainly want to see it trialled. I certainly think it has got to be done. I am a traditionalist, I love the five days. And, as a coach, I love the five days - if you do finish it in four they can't put in another game, you get a day off, they can't schedule any more tournaments, so that's the plus with that and the traditions and all that that goes with five days... [Also five-day Tests] don't get affected by weather as much etc, but the way the game is going, the world game, I don't think we will have certain boards around if we do not move to four-day cricket for certain teams. The cost of running a fifth day is huge in some countries. Australia is not too bad and we have a pretty good cricket programme, so we could probably get away with it. England probably could, India probably could. But there are other countries which will struggle financially if they keep going down the same path."

Faf du Plessis: The magic is in the long, hard toil

Following his side's Potchefstroom Test against Bangladesh, which they won 84 minutes into the final morning, here's the South Africa captain: "I am a fan of five-day Test cricket. I believe the great Test matches have gone to the last hour of the last day on day five. That's what is so special about Test cricket. For five days you have to graft it out. Bowlers have to bowl a lot more and batters have to construct much bigger innings. A day five was needed today [in Potchefstroom]. If it was a rain off yesterday it would have been very disappointing, so I am a fan of [having a fifth day]."