India, Australia and England want to divide Test cricket into two tiers from 2027. If their demands are met, the top 7 teams in the rankings will play among themselves, the remaining 5 teams will be in the second tier.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), Cricket Australia (CA) and England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) are scheduled to meet this month to discuss the two-tier structure.
We’ll have to wait a little longer to find out what will happen in the end. However, after hearing this news, former cricketers are angry. After West Indies World Cup-winning captain Clive Lloyd, another Caribbean legend Michael Holding has opened his mouth about this. He thinks the weakness of the ICC is a big reason behind the introduction of ‘three rounds.
The British media published a column by Telegraph Holding about the two-tier structure in Tests. The headline: Small Test-playing teams will soon disappear — but I have a solution. In the same column, the former West Indies pacer claimed that FIFA can control world football, but world cricket is not under the control of the ICC.
“When England, India and Australia tour each other, they will make (huge) money,” Holding wrote in his column. But the International Cricket Council is supposed to decide which team will visit which country. But they (ICC) seem so weak that they can’t do it. They have to be a little tougher. They have to set a proper schedule and say, ‘Everything has to be the way we have set the schedule.’ “But they don’t do what people think. ’.
The 1979 World Cup-winning legend did not directly oppose the two-tier structure of Tests. However, he wants that if something is introduced, there will be a system of transition and degradation, “If there is no transition and degradation, then only the top-level teams will continue to make money.” The lower tier groups will become poorer and eventually disappear. Maybe that’s what they want. I’ve got an idea—countries that have a lot of money want to keep the game going and maybe make it worse. ’