Ian Chappell wants Test status to be revoked from Ireland, Afghanistan and two other teams

[MenInG]

Ian Chappel writing in an article in which he is suggesting that Test status should be revoked from Ireland, Afghanistan and two other teams:

"There are two big questions that appear to be overlooked by those in charge: How many teams should be playing Tests? And why aren’t administrators working with the players in a partnership to ensure the future of the game?”

“It makes no sense to reward Afghanistan and Ireland, two recent recipients of Test status, neither of whom have the grounds or the infrastructure to reasonably expect that status"

“Sadly, Test status is best confined to the eight nations who have had a long-standing culture of the format.”

“Combination teams composed of interested players who represent non-Test status teams” should compete for the right to play against the eight Test nations.

“Teams should still have to fulfil infrastructure and financial requirements to qualify for Test status - “This would require a second-tier competition, where teams that perform well could state their case for Test status qualification”

 

[SpiritOf1903]

Pakistan ofc...and he's right.

Chappell is quality. He's a say-it-as-you-see-it-typs Aussie. Like Souness when he'd not being ott

 

[Colorblind Genius]

I think this is his idea of how to keep the standard and quality of Test cricket alive. And it does have truth to it.

Not every Tom Dick and Harry type teams should be qualifying to play Test cricket.

Otherwise the difference in standard and quality between the top and lower ranking teams will be too wide.
Right now, a Test match between Australia and Afghanistan or Ireland vs India or England will not depict the actual class of what Test cricket should be like.

On flip side of the coin though, what Chappell is not considering is that the quality and standard of Test, even in the top ranking teams, has gotten diluted after T20.
It’s not the same quality as it was of Test cricket of 80s n 90s
T20 has screwed up with the brains, patience and temperament of Test batsmen, Test games are sometimes are now done 3 days.

So the standard and Quality of Test has already gone down.

 

[Bewal Express]

He is right. Zimbabwe, Ireland, Afghanistan and Windies should go.

 

[Minnowbasher]

May aswell make test cricket a 5 team format

SENA + India

Pakistan are going downhill and will eventually reach minnow level. Most Pakistanis really don't care about test cricket anyway.

 

[sweep_shot]

Ireland and Afghanistan barely play Test cricket.

What's the point of Test status then? I feel like Test status has lost its meaning after T20 happened.

 

[BunnyRabbit]

Ireland, Afg need to play more test cricket otherwise they won't grow. Don't know why they barely play any.

If Afg had a good relationship with PCB, then they would have played a series or two with us.

Chappell is a biased old gimp. He praises Australia and India and that's about it. Every few months, he has a stupid epiphany and ends up writing some stupid stuff. Plus he can't hide his hatred for the teams he doesn't like.

 

[Robert]

I think Chappelli’s right. There should be two leagues with promotion and relegation at the end of every cycle.

 

[Robert]

Ireland, Afg need to play more test cricket otherwise they won't grow. Don't know why they barely play any.

Because nobody watches when they do. I say that as an Irish citizen. They have a few County standard players. They can cause upset in LO but won’t win tests.

 

[BunnyRabbit]

Ireland have a good chance of beating Zim and Ban from regular test nations at home.

Afg can actually beat Ban, Zim and even WI in Asia.

Afg have good cricketers coming through. It's the geopolitical problems that are hampering their success.

 

[Ashmal]

May aswell make test cricket a 5 team format

SENA + India

Pakistan are going downhill and will eventually reach minnow level. Most Pakistanis really don't care about test cricket anyway.

Apart from Eng, Aus and India to an extent, no one cares about Test cricket.

 

[Bhaag Viru Bhaag]

8 teams should play test cricket. 1 team should be relegated and 1 should be promoted after every cycle. All teams should play minimum number of tests against each team both home and away. Teams like India and Pakistan should play on neutral venues. And teams should lose points if they don't play against any of the top 8 teams. ICC can very easily create this situation and force India, Pakistan to play test series against each other. Even BCCI won't say no.

 

[Major]

You cant play a format of game between only 8 sides. If that is how you run things, than no new cricketers would come and seniors will hogg spots because its agaisnt weaker sides we see new players come into action. Alot of u19 talent get to play against weaker test teams, and if it weren't for these weaker teams, alot of the new guys that come would be making their debuts very very late.

Alot of our own players like Babar, Abbas, Shadab and Hasan Ali came into the test side by getting a chance against weaker oppositions.

Look at Australia, these guys know they will beat Pakistan in Australia easily, yet we didnt see many debuts against us.

And as for Ireland and Afghanistan:

Afghanistan was scheduled to play a test match against Australia, which Australia backed out due to political reasons. The than captain, Tim Paine said that because Afghan Taliban violate women rights, we wont play the Afghanistan team. The funny thing is, this Afghanistan team doesnt even recognize the Taliban flag and yet the Aussies sabotage the series against them.
Ironically, few months later, Tim Paine was caught being involved in harassing a female..........

Ireland made its debut against England, they almost defeated England. No team is better than Ireland when it comes to tackling English conditions in test cricket.

Infact, for any team touring England, Ireland test games are a great preparation for them.

Just because you find a match against a team boring, doesnt mean you end up making stupid claims.

 

[Major]

He is right. Zimbabwe, Ireland, Afghanistan and Windies should go.

would you mind telling us what wrong Ireland and Afghanistan has committed that they should go?

 

[Major]

All the countries i have mentioned have no fan base for test cricket or don't have a history.

Wait, how does history get developed? By being part of current events. History doesnt magically appear that oh look, there is history lets give them test status. Canada has history where they played the first cricket game, does that mean Canada should be given Test status?

History will be created by letting Afg and Ireland play.

Pakistan had no test history before it made its debut as a test team, the history developed as we played more games and developed icons.

Infact, Afghanistan Cricket has a better cricket history than any other nation. The intial Afghan team was made by Allah dad noori who used to go around Afg and Pakistani refugee camps and scout players. He used to fight for permission. After which Taj Malik joined along. They got Test status in 2001, and this was a team that used to do diving practise by jumping on a mattress because there was no grass in the country to learn diving. They had no resources yet they would go on to win WCL and qualify for odi membership.

This team also won the intercontinental cup which is an associate first class(test) tournament that goes on for 2-3 years. All this happened during the captaincy of Nowroz Mangal.

As for fan base, Pakistan cricket has no test fan base. I have been to Rawalpindi for the test game against Australia. THe fans complained about why there are no sixes or fours. They had no idea how to watch test cricket, they were getting excited on every ball and after a few minutes they realized that how test cricket is actually.

So no, even our fans, especially the new ones dont know how to watch test games.

 

[DeadlyVenom]

Keep 7 teams and a second division of 7 teams that play test 4 day cricket.

Include a system for promotion and relegation every two or three years. Bottom team from div 1 and top from div 2 get automatic relegation/promotion and the second bottom and second top fight a play off placd.

Some countries will go through a years cycle where they randomly unearth top talent and have the chance to be competitive for a few years.

A promotiom/relegation system will give those nations a chance to temporarily play the test game until the well goes dry for a bit, will keep weaker nations on their toes and 7 teams in div 1 will also probably permanently ensure the safety of Australia, England and India from relegation.

I think at various points in history teams like Scotland, Holland, Ireland, Zimbabwe have had a side good enough to cope with test cricket for 2-3 years.

 

[Robert]

Ireland made its debut against England, they almost defeated England. No team is better than Ireland when it comes to tackling English conditions in test cricket.

Just because you find a match against a team boring, doesnt mean you end up making stupid claims.

ENG bowled IRL out for 38 and won by 138 runs.

https://www.espncricinfo.com/series...d-vs-ireland-only-test-1152839/full-scorecard

 

[GLORY OF '92]

Get rid of

Ireland
Afghanistan
Bangladesh
SL
WI

Rest play each other home and away every 2 years

 

[ex-q-zit]

Nonsense by Ian Chappell and more nonsense by posters here.

You cant play a format of game between only 8 sides. If that is how you run things, than no new cricketers would come and seniors will hogg spots because its agaisnt weaker sides we see new players come into action. Alot of u19 talent get to play against weaker test teams, and if it weren't for these weaker teams, alot of the new guys that come would be making their debuts very very late.

Alot of our own players like Babar, Abbas, Shadab and Hasan Ali came into the test side by getting a chance against weaker oppositions.

Look at Australia, these guys know they will beat Pakistan in Australia easily, yet we didnt see many debuts against us.

And as for Ireland and Afghanistan:

Afghanistan was scheduled to play a test match against Australia, which Australia backed out due to political reasons. The than captain, Tim Paine said that because Afghan Taliban violate women rights, we wont play the Afghanistan team. The funny thing is, this Afghanistan team doesnt even recognize the Taliban flag and yet the Aussies sabotage the series against them.
Ironically, few months later, Tim Paine was caught being involved in harassing a female..........

Ireland made its debut against England, they almost defeated England. No team is better than Ireland when it comes to tackling English conditions in test cricket.

Infact, for any team touring England, Ireland test games are a great preparation for them.

Just because you find a match against a team boring, doesnt mean you end up making stupid claims.

Arte you sure? As far as I remember Ireland made its debut against Pak and gave a good fight.

 

[Major]

Arte you sure? As far as I remember Ireland made its debut against Pak and gave a good fight.

you are right, plz edit my psot and say, when Ireland played against England........

 

[Bewal Express]

Wait, how does history get developed? By being part of current events. History doesnt magically appear that oh look, there is history lets give them test status. Canada has history where they played the first cricket game, does that mean Canada should be given Test status?

History will be created by letting Afg and Ireland play.

Pakistan had no test history before it made its debut as a test team, the history developed as we played more games and developed icons.

Infact, Afghanistan Cricket has a better cricket history than any other nation. The intial Afghan team was made by Allah dad noori who used to go around Afg and Pakistani refugee camps and scout players. He used to fight for permission. After which Taj Malik joined along. They got Test status in 2001, and this was a team that used to do diving practise by jumping on a mattress because there was no grass in the country to learn diving. They had no resources yet they would go on to win WCL and qualify for odi membership.

This team also won the intercontinental cup which is an associate first class(test) tournament that goes on for 2-3 years. All this happened during the captaincy of Nowroz Mangal.

As for fan base, Pakistan cricket has no test fan base. I have been to Rawalpindi for the test game against Australia. THe fans complained about why there are no sixes or fours. They had no idea how to watch test cricket, they were getting excited on every ball and after a few minutes they realized that how test cricket is actually.

So no, even our fans, especially the new ones dont know how to watch test games.

Test cricket is an acquired taste built up over decades of results, memories and FC infrastructure. The only problem is that these nations are playing the game when the Tests themselves are being debated and many are predicting they will be history. What is the point of Afg playing tests in front of 100 people, what is the point of Ireland playing in front of 1000 people? And not only that, there is no following on TV( with economic value) and online
There is a format that works for them called T20, and it's easy to get into and overtime they Will become very good at it.

 

[Major]

Test cricket is an acquired taste built up over decades of results, memories and FC infrastructure. The only problem is that these nations are playing the game when the Tests themselves are being debated and many are predicting they will be history. What is the point of Afg playing tests in front of 100 people, what is the point of Ireland playing in front of 1000 people? And not only that, there is no following on TV( with economic value) and online
There is a format that works for them called T20, and it's easy to get into and overtime they Will become very good at it.

the first sentence you wrote that is only possible when you have test matches going on. If AFG doesnt play a test match how will the history develop? These nations are not getting test games, thats the issue. Teams make excuses to not play against them.

As for 100 people, im pretty confident that Afghanistan can fil up a stadium if matches were allowed to be played in their home.

Afghanistan cricket has a huge following back home. These people used to listen to cricket on radio in 2010... For them cricket is the only thing to be proud about.

Even for test cricket, only a small niche of people that are on this forum follow it

 

[PakLFC]

I agree with Ian. These two sides will never make any inroads at Test Cricket. They are just there to make up the numbers, nothing else. No top side really wants to have a series with them at all. If Ireland have been granted Test status then Scotland should have been done so too.

 

[wrongun]

Nonsense by Ian Chappell and more nonsense by posters here.

You cant play a format of game between only 8 sides. If that is how you run things, than no new cricketers would come and seniors will hogg spots because its agaisnt weaker sides we see new players come into action. Alot of u19 talent get to play against weaker test teams, and if it weren't for these weaker teams, alot of the new guys that come would be making their debuts very very late.

Alot of our own players like Babar, Abbas, Shadab and Hasan Ali came into the test side by getting a chance against weaker oppositions.

Look at Australia, these guys know they will beat Pakistan in Australia easily, yet we didnt see many debuts against us.

And as for Ireland and Afghanistan:

Afghanistan was scheduled to play a test match against Australia, which Australia backed out due to political reasons. The than captain, Tim Paine said that because Afghan Taliban violate women rights, we wont play the Afghanistan team. The funny thing is, this Afghanistan team doesnt even recognize the Taliban flag and yet the Aussies sabotage the series against them.
Ironically, few months later, Tim Paine was caught being involved in harassing a female..........

Ireland made its debut against England, they almost defeated England. No team is better than Ireland when it comes to tackling English conditions in test cricket.

Infact, for any team touring England, Ireland test games are a great preparation for them.

Just because you find a match against a team boring, doesnt mean you end up making stupid claims.

Nonsense, 8 teams still allows for some teams to be stronger than others. And also, guess what, you can make your debut against a tough side and survive. Justin Langer made his debute vs peak WI. Tagerine Chanderpaul just made his debut vs Oz at Perth! He did just fine.

A touring team can still play against Ireland- it'll just be a FC match like it used to be. Instead of calling an admitted warm up match, a Test.

 

[sweep_shot]

Even though I am a massive Test fan, I have to admit Test doesn't bring in profit. It is only profitable for a few teams (India, Australia, and England mainly). Teams like Sri Lanka and West Indies are broke; they can't afford too many Tests (barely attract crowds).

So, if teams like Sri Lanka and West Indies can't afford to play enough Test, how can Ireland and Afghanistan?

Test status has lost its meaning after new formats got introduced (T20, T10, Hundred etc.). Also, there is too much cricket nowadays; major teams may not be able to play Ireland or Afghanistan even if they want to (packed schedule).

 

[umerz]

In my opinion developing tiers and creating a culture of relegation and promotion is a better idea. Like they do in football leagues. 8 teams in tier 1 and 8 teams in tier 2. Tier 2 will provide opportunity to teams like Zimbabwe, Ireland, Canada, Kenya, Scotland, UAE etc to get the grasp and better understand demands of 5 day cricket.

 

[Colorblind Genius]

How good is a Test century made against Ireland vs a Test century made against Australia or against WI or against the two W’s when these teams/bowlers were at the peak?
How good is taking a 5-for against Afghanistan vs a 5-for taken against India or Australia or England?

In both scenarios it’s a TEST century or a TEST 5-for, but are they really at the same level of quality, standard and class?

So the problem is, you truly dilute the value of test cricket when these very weak teams play Test cricket.

When you are called a TEST team or a TEST player, which is considered the ultimate level of a cricketer, then you must not be too far apart in having the quality and standard of all other test playing teams and players.

Afghanistan and Ireland getting Test status is like giving a black belt to a novice karate student. What’s the value of the black belt now?

Is that novice karate kid with a black belt, as good as a seasoned master who also has a black belt?

So what exactly is the standard and quality of a black belt represent? That of a novice student or the seasoned master?

 

[MenInG]

Does Chappells view hold any substance?

Can Ireland really compete at this level?

 

[volcyz]

Sri Lankan padding averages vsing Ireland for freebies

 

[Titan24]

In my opinion there should be a division 2 for the bottom 2 of the ICC test rankings and 3 of the higher ranked associates for them to be able to get better at the format as well. Stats shouldn’t be counted in test stats, as cricket is a game of stats and they should mean something ultimately.

Its also a fact that conducting test matches is a costly business and commercial aspects wont be coming into play for division 2.

If something like this to better these teams is not on the cards then its kind of pointless activity to give them a match or two after every year or so.

Current series with Srl ranked no 7 and Ireland ranked no 13, the difference in skillset is enormous. This is just a 6th test match for Ireland and they have been asked to compete Srilanka in Srilanka. Also if they are to be given test matches then they should start with home and there should be more every year. They have just played one home match and that was against Pak almost 5 years ago.

 

[Bilal Ahmad15]

Ian Chappell is spot on, it makes no sense to give Test Status to Ireland and Afghanistan, when test cricket is dying, and lets have a look at the man reason; They play so little Test Cricket!! They aren't even part of the WTC!

Zimbabwe needs to be taken away Test Status Too.

 

[sweep_shot]

Test used to be seen as prestigious. It no longer feels that way. Players are prioritizing T20.

Test is generally played in front of little crowd. Only England and Australia generate good crowds for Test.

So, even if 4 teams are stripped off Test statuses (as per wish of Ian Chappell), it may not achieve much.

 

[FearlessRoar]

Ian Chappell, in his column for a sports media platform, urged the ICC to reconsider its approach, warning that without change, the major cricket boards will continue to create schedules that prioritize their own interests:

“The ICC doesn’t run cricket, and unless there’s a major change of heart, the financially desirable nations will continue to have a huge say in producing a self-serving schedule."

“Cricket being run by a competent ICC is a pipe dream. Hence the growing T20 calendar and the current scheduling schemozzle that plagues the game."

“Nevertheless, unless some issues, including a reasonable schedule and the criminally slow speed of play (which creates notoriously poor over rates), are critically addressed, Test cricket will struggle to attract younger audiences."

“It’s extremely expensive to run a four-day competition, and therefore not many beyond the big three can really afford the burden. It’s one reason why T20 cricket flourishes. Running a successful T20 competition improves the financial capacity of a cricket body."

“This, along with running a successful T20 competition being vastly more acceptable than losing money on a first-class schedule, dominates the thinking of most cricket administrators."

 

[Van_Sri]

You cant play a format of game between only 8 sides. If that is how you run things, than no new cricketers would come and seniors will hogg spots because its agaisnt weaker sides we see new players come into action. Alot of u19 talent get to play against weaker test teams, and if it weren't for these weaker teams, alot of the new guys that come would be making their debuts very very late.

Alot of our own players like Babar, Abbas, Shadab and Hasan Ali came into the test side by getting a chance against weaker oppositions.

Look at Australia, these guys know they will beat Pakistan in Australia easily, yet we didnt see many debuts against us.

And as for Ireland and Afghanistan:

Afghanistan was scheduled to play a test match against Australia, which Australia backed out due to political reasons. The than captain, Tim Paine said that because Afghan Taliban violate women rights, we wont play the Afghanistan team. The funny thing is, this Afghanistan team doesnt even recognize the Taliban flag and yet the Aussies sabotage the series against them.
Ironically, few months later, Tim Paine was caught being involved in harassing a female..........

Ireland made its debut against England, they almost defeated England. No team is better than Ireland when it comes to tackling English conditions in test cricket.

Infact, for any team touring England, Ireland test games are a great preparation for them.

Just because you find a match against a team boring, doesnt mean you end up making stupid claims.

Well said