Former Australia captain Ian Chappell has questioned the ICC's criteria for awarding Test status to its Associate members.
In a column penned for ESPNCricinfo, the one-time No.1-ranked Test batter in the world touched upon the topic of the two-tier Test system, a proposal that has been mooted recently in an effort to further boost the larger appeal of Test cricket.
Chappell commented that realistically, only a limited number of teams could compete in Test cricket in the long term. He did point to the potential feasibility of a system involving promotion and relegation, but in doing so cast doubt over the ICC's criteria for awarding Test status.
Chappell: New Test nations don't come close to meeting any reasonable criteria
"A system that includes promotion and relegation is feasible but there need to be certain criteria attached before a team attains Test status," he wrote. "Those should include: Do they have a viable first-class competition? Do they have legitimate grounds for holding five-day games? Do the grounds have adequate facilities? Are they financially stable?
"If a team meets those criteria - and maintains a high standard of play over a number of years - then promotion to Test status would be legitimate. However, most of the recent Test-appointed nations don't come close to meeting any reasonable criteria. For instance, could Afghanistan hold a Test series in their strife-torn country? Does Ireland have a realistic number of Test-standard grounds?
"Even setting aside the Taliban's reprehensible treatment of women, the answer to those questions is: absolutely not. Then why do they have Test status?"
Afghanistan and Ireland are the latest additions to the set of the ICC's Full Members, those that are allowed to play Test cricket. The first ten Test-playing nations did not have to fulfil any objective criteria to do so, while these two did satisfy a set of requirements that the ICC has deemed necessary for an Associate Member to graduate to Full Member status.
These do not line up precisely with Chappell's mooted criteria, but the fact remains that Full Member status is no longer simply handed out by invitation.
Chappell: Cricket being run by a competent ICC is a pipe dream
Chappell went on to say that the ICC is "widely regarded as an events management company", and that unless the governing body properly takes control of Test cricket, bilateral agreements between boards will continue to be self-serving to those member nations with the most financial muscle – namely, India, England and Australia.
"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," he wrote, before urging the ICC to put in place a viable two-tier Test system, something he believes should have been done years ago.
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