The ICC has announced that Afghanistan and Ireland are now full member nations, which means that they now get Test status.
It is exciting and wonderful news for the hard working cricketers from both the nations who probably dreamt of this day since they started playing cricket.
Even though this is a great news, it also brings about the question if these two nations will be able to get enough competitive games.
The team before these two countries to get Test status was Bangladesh. Bangladesh for a long time struggled to get opportunities to play against the top nations especially away from home.
Bangladesh in their young 17-year career have played just 47 tests away from home, and the majority of their games have been against Sri Lanka against who they have been able to play regularly over the last 17 years.
They only played their first test in India just recently after 17 years of being granted the Test status. They have never played Pakistan in UAE and haven’t toured Australia since 2003.
Out of the 47 Tests 32 have come against four nations which are Sri Lanka, New Zealand, West Indies and Zimbabwe. The rest of the five teams in total have invited Bangladesh only for a grand total of 15 games in 17 years. That does not even equate to even one Test a year.
This is something which the ICC has to guard against. Bangladesh still does not get enough games against the top 5 nations. They haven’t played a game in England since 2010 and in South Africa since 2008. Those are pretty shocking numbers to be honest. When the world is calling Bangladesh a mediocre team in Tests, the stats above tells us why.
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Even though granting Test status to the two deserving teams is a great initiative, ICC needs to make sure that they don’t suffer the same fate as Bangladesh.
Both these teams would be incredibly excited at the prospect of competing against the top nations and it would be a disappointment if they have to resort to just playing with each other all the time.
The individual cricketing boards also have a part to play in this induction. Countries like India, England, Pakistan and Australia need to try and squeeze in series against these two teams regularly, even it is just for a game or two.
I understand that initially there might be lots of one sided games but they will improve with time and with enough opportunities against top teams.
The addition of Bangladesh and now Afghanistan and Ireland is wonderful for cricket in general and sends out a great message for other associate nations.
The rapid strides that Afghanistan has taken will give great confidence to other associate nations to take their cricket seriously.
This is a great day for cricket but again steps have to be taken that these teams are engaged effectively to keep the interest alive in their respective countries.
Hopefully the ICC and the rest of the countries realise that and do their part in development of cricket in these two countries.
Welcome Afghanistan and Ireland, and I hope you have a wonderful time playing Test cricket.
JGK
Roar Guru
And the players didn't think that the 1946 match was Test match at the time!
Alex L
Roar Rookie
Who can these teams with no halfway decent first class competition possibly be competitive with besides each other and the long running jokes that are Bangladesh and Zimbabwe? Just dilutes test matches further, not that it matters.
Giri Subramanian
Roar Guru
Ireland and Afghanistan do play unofficial 4 day games. They just cannot play with the major teams but they do play them. Also it is unfair to expect associate nations to have everything figured out before getting the test status. Lots of countries who are associates don't have cricket as their major sport and are in minority playing the game. ICC sure will have some criteria to induct teams in as Full members. There is lots of work ahead for these teams but again if you wait for these associate teams to develop test ready status then we may never have another full member ever.
Bakkies
Guest
You simply can't elevate teams to test status based on one day performances. Ireland and Afghanistan needed four day matches at least to prove their worth as a side before awarding test status. The biggest issue in terms of bringing players in to a time consuming sport in Summer in Ireland is that it is also the GAA season.
Giri Subramanian
Roar Guru
Yup that will be ideal if ICC can help these nations setup their own facilities and infrastructure. Now that these teams have full member status, there is bound to be more interest in cricket among youth. It will be easy if the boards are little proactive to develop the sport in their respective countries.
Rellum
Roar Guru
I would rather the ICC help them set up their own FC comps, with facility, ground staff and coaching help. But you are right the ICC needs to be more proactive with things. But your idea of bringing in teams into England and India would be a good short term idea, but only if it is a short term idea. I would also love to seem them guide the next 24 ranked nations into building their own FC/ODI/T20 comps so that we can have several layers to the international game. I would even go out there and have an short annual FC world championship series so those countries top FC teams can go up against the likes of the Country champions, Shield champions and I guess the Ranji Trophy winners.
Giri Subramanian
Roar Guru
ICC needs to take a little ownership and actually act on their plan of spreading cricket. Just playing few T20 games in US does not constitute as spreading the game. ICC needs to support countries like Zimbabwe, Ireland, Bangladesh and Afghanistan. Not all associate nations are going to have a ready first class structure. Interest in the sport is something which needs to be developed in these countries. It will only happen when these countries play enough games at the highest level and against good opponents. Until then England and India needs to be the place where the Irish and Afghani cricketers develop. Probably India can allow the couple of Afghan teams playing in their Ranji trophy? England can allow couple of teams from Ireland in their country cricket? Bangladesh already have a first class structure. These new countries need help and ICC can set an example with them. New associate nations aspiring to become full member nations need confidence. No associate country have money to develop infrastructure or create a talent pool as mentioned by few people here. They need to be playing at the highest level and get enough games for their board to be able to develop cricket in their countries. Getting full member status is the first step, now with enough games and money coming in they in another decade or so will be competing with the top nations. It will be a slow process but this needs to happen. Cricket has had the slowest development in professional sports. We have had only 12 full member nations in about 150 year history. The growth has been really slow and ICC has been active since 1909 that is more than 100 years of history. From the initial years in those 100 years, there haven't been too many nations, just 9 nations have become full members.
Giri Subramanian
Roar Guru
You are right in a way. Ireland were a very good ODI side like in 2011 when they made the world cup. They haven't been doing that well recently. Both Afghanistan and Ireland would need lots of help in terms of building their infrastructure and talent pool. Ireland especially lost few of their players like Eion Morgan to England, so that does not help. Afghanistan probably will be hoping to get some help from BCCI as they play their international games in India already. I agree in a way that the status for Ireland has come 10 years too late. In 2007 they did well in the World Cup too, I think they defeated Pakistan? So ICC has been really late on their status.Morgan was still playing for them and would not have left them.
Bakkies
Guest
Ireland's rise has been on the back of the one day side which is now in decline. I don't think this is the right decision. There isn't a provincial first class championship to produce players. A national stadium (Malahide isn't in the right condition for test Cricket) and training centre will have to be built.
Rellum
Roar Guru
Well the idea I outlined above would give teams like Ireland and Afghanistan a chance to play both lesser and big gun teams. Pots based on rankings would be needed to make sure all the best teams aren't drawn against each other. There would be logistic issues of course with travel and TV rights but the ICC should be handling the scheduling and I guess the TV rights for the Test championship in the end. Even we had to wait for current TV deals to run out. But that would mean the ICC would need to rule for all not just the big three.
Giri Subramanian
Roar Guru
Yeah I guess the two tier system should be implemented and it will be good if all teams get to play in the championship. You cannot have 2 or 3 teams just resorting to playing each other for 2-3 years while the other teams are competing in a test championship. I am not saying Ireland or Afghanistan is going to win but again you cannot completely ignore them for so many years as well.
Giri Subramanian
Roar Guru
I understand that but again, the ICC needs to make sure that newly inducted test teams get enough games. What is the point of adding new members when you know they are going to be mediocre for couple of decades due to lack of games? I have also mentioned that the individual boards also have a part to play. It is not all ICC.
Rellum
Roar Guru
I would think these two sides coming in the ICC is playing some sort of Test championship. Even if it is split into two groups of 6 sides for a yearly or two year home and away series with finals at the end. Redraw the groups every new cycle so we get variety and the small nations get real exposure. I would love to see the next 12 teams down get the same system so they can build to being in the top tier. Great to see them in btw.
Pope Paul VII
Guest
Be hard pressed to beat this. NZ test debut was 1930. Australia played a single test against them in 1946. On a dodgy wicket. The next test between the two nations wasn't until 1973.
Timmuh
Roar Guru
Nations have not given the ICC any power in scheduling. The FTP was always unofficially optional even after it was adopted, it is now officially optional. The smaller nations lose money on Tests,
BrainsTrust
Guest
The major reason the top nations do not invite the lesser nations more often is because of the mutual obligation involved. For every match played in country A by country B, country A is then obliged to play a match in Country B. Ireland and Aghanistan are effectively breaking that cycle, so that means the top nations might play them ahead of other minor nations because it doesn;t have to bother touring them. That is a threat to SOuth Africa,West Indies,New Zealand because they rely on the money from India, England and Australia touring them and are further away from these richer nations. In particular India provides SOuth Africa with 40% of its revenue from a single tour every 4 years.
BurgyGreen
Guest
Yep this is extremely disappointing. Afghanistan, Ireland and Zimbabwe will be forced to play no one but each other for at least the next four years, unless they can convince one of the top 9 to squeeze them in between Championship games. Having said this, it is still a big step forward for the game that we may finally be getting a Test league.
George
Guest
Yes. They've improved in spite of the neglect of some of the established Test boards.
Giri Subramanian
Roar Guru
Yes you are right that Ireland was not there in 2000. But again when Bangladesh was struggling to cope up with international cricket, there was calls for Ireland getting the test status and stripping Bangladesh off it. Ireland does not have a first class structure to speak of and possibly the grant of test status might help them to develop their infrastructure. Same with Afghanistan. They need money and support to improve their infrastructure and also need interest to be generated within the country. I am sure lot more kids will be willing to take up cricket as a career after this announcement. It is one step at a time. Not all countries can have perfect first class system before getting a full member status. It is a step by step process.
spruce moose
Guest
The ICC are not responsible for forcing the "Ashes! Ashes! Ashes" centric market from turning up to other matches I'm afraid...