Kung Fu, Voltron and nightclubs: The new Test championship

An Ashes Summer is due to start in Australia in the coming months, which was greeted in different ways by Australian vice-captain Dave Warner and CEO of Cricket Australia, James Sutherland.

Warner came out in characteristic style; swinging and advocating the benefits of hating the English team as a way of winning the series. I’m not sure how this reconciles with his newly found mindfulness meditation, but I like to think he’s been manifesting the spirit of Caine from Kung Fu.

Sutherland, on the other hand, came out promoting the new Test Championship that is being held by the International Cricket Council. This approach is much more like promoting the TV show Kung Fu, which was cancelled in 1975, rather then something that is on now that is relevant to cricket fans, like maybe the Ashes.

Apart from diverting attention from the Ashes, what does the new Test Champions mean and how will it change things from the current points system used to rank the Test-playing nations? How will address the other major issues facing Test cricket, including smaller crowds, the fight for relevance and growth?

Let’s look at what Sutherland has told us
The new Test Championship will involve nine of the current Test-playing nations, with incumbent Zimbabwe not getting a spot at the table and Ireland and Afghanistan also missing out, despite getting Test status this year.

I guess that must be like going to a nightclub when you turn 18, only to be told its member’s night.

The question needs to be asked how the ICC is using this new fixure to help those in line to get into the club sooner, or are they content to continue to just let their mates in and take advantage of Happy Hour?

Every team in the club will play six Test series, three at home and three away, meaning that not every team plays each other. Given that not every team is as strong as each other, particularly when touring, this will create a disparity in the evenness of the competition.

This will also potentially hinder the lesser teams as they won’t have access to better competition, bigger crowds or (potentially) higher revenues from those series. While there is little doubt the current West Indian side does well in actual nightclubs, getting them performing better in the Test club can only be done with a few drink cards.

The impact of playing three Test series a year will not have a big impact on the Australian team, as this is the standard at the moment, with there being either one big series at home every summer (e.g a five-Test series against India or England) or two smaller series (e.g. against either Sri Lanka or South Africa).

One similarity to the current rankings mechanism is that each game will have a number of points allocated to the winner for the win, including the manner in which they won (e.g. margin). Whether the points allocated reflects home ground advantage or comparative strength of the teams is yet to be decided.

Also undecided is what happens to teams after they have a poor first year. Do they continue to compete in a Series they cannot win, or do they focus on other (more profitable) series such as T20? This probably isn’t for the ICC to decide, but it is something they will need to respond to.

Unlike my emails. Apparently.

The limitation on the number of home Test series to five does mean there is no chance to host games outside Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth – so Hobart and Canberra (and the fans there) will miss out.

(AP Photo/A.M. Ahad)

Playing one to two overseas Test series a year also corresponds well to the current fixture played by the Australian team, but there has been no announcement on how to make these games more accessible.

The tour played by Australia in Bangladesh earlier this year was a cracker, but was only accessible to those in Australia with access to Pay TV who were able to slip away from work for four to six hours at a time. Or so I’ve heard.

The final of the Championship is expected to be held at Lord’s in 2021, which will be great for English fans if they make it, but less so for any other team, unless they have a penchant for washed-out days and bad teeth.

The outcome of the Final is opaque, one suspects a giant novelty-sized cheque may be presented, but then again it might just be fun sized. Or perhaps a piece of robot is handed to each team and when they combine them it turns into some sort of Cricket Voltron.

That outcome is particularly unlikely, but we all have hopes and dreams and that is mine.

What happens after the Cricket Voltron, apart from a safer Galaxy, is unsure. Does the Championship simply hit the restart button and we begin again, or is there relegation involved, allowing other teams into the club? Will the next final be moved to a hosting teams ground? How will this grow cricket? Will my Cricket Voltron dream ever come to fruition?