Testing times for cricket

Martin Crowe, who is proposing the

Martin Crowe's "Test Cricket Open" proposal continues to gain acceptance in the sport's corridors of power.

Crowe, as a member of the Marylebone Cricket Club's world committee, put forward the paper in September. It's since been adapted and endorsed by the ICC for further talks.

The former New Zealand captain is no stranger to innovation and evolution in the game. His Cricket Max concept was the pre-cursor to modern day Twenty20.

Crowe's idea this time is to have a three-test quarter-finals series between the world's top eight teams played in November, coupled with one-off semifinals and a final at Lord's the following September.

"Obviously there would have to be compromise on the part of the big four nations at present in the form of India, Australia, South Africa and England [who play each other often as part of the Future Tours Programme].

"However, I believe the best sporting competitions in the world crown a winner or winners in a handful of special events every year.

"No matter how bad or lowly ranked the competitors, everyone has a chance."

Crowe says it makes sense to push it through if the ICC is to live up to its mantra of treating test cricket as the sport's pinnacle.

"Look at the New Zealand team last year turning up late to England because of the IPL. And then this year the West Indies captain [Chris Gayle] turned up a day before the first test.

"Both those test series ended up being lost poorly. The feeling is there's not enough motivation and meaning to stay keen to get out of a slump."

It looks like the ICC-adjusted model would see the championship played from late next year. It would use current series already in place under the Future Tours Programme (FTP) which will be revamped from 2012. Points would be awarded over a two-year period and then averaged by the number of tests played to determine four semifinalists.

Rather than using Lord's, the final would be played at the country of the highest-ranked team both for home advantage and the chance to bolster broadcasting revenue.

The ICC's general manager, former South African wicketkeeper Dave Richardson, says pinning members down to agree on an acceptable concept is the hard part.

"Everyone agrees finding some kind of meaningful context for test cricket is important for the future development and promotion of the form of the game we regard as the pinnacle. The big question is devising a universally acceptable model that can be implemented in practice. Therefore a model which doesn't impact on current commercial commitments would be easiest to achieve."

In cricket parlance, expect the response to be more of a Sunil Gavaskar- than Shahid Afridi-paced innings but hopefully the ICC can raise its bat in the end to the applause of purist fans. The ICC Chief Executives Committee meets on November 30 and December 1 to discuss the proposal in Dubai and is expected to continue talks in February.