At first glance, the ICC’s decision to decline an invitation to play a tournament at the 2018 Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast is a step back in the global development of the game, especially considering the main motive is the clash with the Indian Premier League.
But put it into context and it isn’t quite that severe.
The most logical format to run a quick tournament would be Twenty20 cricket. Given the ICC host a World Championships for that format every two years, and the ever increasing national competitions, there is already enough for fans of the shortest cricket format.
There is a small argument to suggest it would be a great opportunity for some of the smaller cricket nations in the Commonwealth such as Papua New Guinea, Fiji and Namibia to test their wares. But the lack of cricket’s elephant in the room – the USA – means it would miss a chance at cracking open a vital growing market, as opposed to the Olympics.
What’s more, T20 cricket is streaks ahead of the longest format at engaging the non-powerhouse cricket nations in regular quality cricket, which is obviously no accident.
The World T20 qualifiers are a great method to engage those nations in regular high quality competitive cricket. Plus, we know nations such as Australia see Twenty20 as a great way to bring new fans to the game, and that shouldn’t be any different for nations who are competing with football and basketball.
So with little chance to plug the game to a big new audience, and the struggle to fit it into the calendar, sealed the ICC’s decision. But where does that the leave the growth and expansion of all formats of the game for the emerging nations?
The front runner is Ireland. Cricket Ireland has been extremely impressive in scheduling regular games against quality opponents for their last few summers. Their ability to practically throw together a Test-match quality venue for their ODI against England at Malahide last year was just the tip of the iceberg.
The Irish governing body has recently introduced central contracts for their top players, as well as the framework for a first-class competition, the Inter-Provincial Championship. This is all while growing the game at the grass-roots level and ever increasing the game’s popularity in the Emerald Isle.
And it may look like their hard work is going to pay off, with the announcement that the winner of the 2015-2017 Intercontinental Cup has a chance to rise to the ranks of Test cricket.
“The proposal is that the 10th ranked side on the Reliance ICC Test Team Rankings on 31 December 2017, or at the conclusion of any series in progress at that time, will play two five-day matches at home and two five-day matches away against the winner of the upcoming ICC Intercontinental Cup, with the inaugural Challenge scheduled to take place during 2018,” the ICC said.
This is a big step forward not just for the lower ranked nations, but the growth and popularity of cricket in general. No sport can grow, in developed or undeveloped markets, if it bars its emerging participants from continuing to go to the next level.
Furthermore, the creation of a league framework underneath Test cricket could help to establish a true World Test Championship.
One can easily envision the demise of the Future Tours Program for Test and Intercontinental leagues. The top eight nations play each other in minimum three-Test series (the big nations can agree to five matches), once each both home and away, over four years.
At the end of which we have a ‘top of the table champion’ and a bottom ranked relegated nation, over the same four years the next eight ranked nations follow a similar format.
This might be a dream world at the moment, but if cricket in all formats wants to grow than giving emerging nations a pathway to Test cricket is the only way forward.
After all, how many sports crown their world champion on the basis of a tournament from the condensed format of their sport?
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