Should Test cricket have two tiers – or would that be ‘terrible’ for some nations?

The future of Test cricket is always a hotly-debated topic within the sport.

It has been that way ever since the proliferation of franchise T20 competitions began with the Indian Premier League in 2008.

That tournament has become a juggernaut and other white-ball showcases have sprung up around the world, including the Big Bash, The Hundred, the Pakistan Super League and SA20.

It has left Test cricket fighting to win eyeballs, stay relevant and even retain players, with constant conversations had over how to keep the purest form of the game part of the game.

A new report from Australian newspaper the Melbourne Age has suggested that ICC chair Jay Shah will soon meet with his counterparts from England and Australia to discuss a potential two-tier system.

That could see a seven-side top flight of England, Australia, India, South Africa, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and New Zealand, with the other Test nations – West Indies, Bangladesh, Ireland, Afghanistan and Zimbabwe – in a second division.

In that scenario – and it cannot happen until the end of the Future Tours Programme and next World Test Championship cycle in mid-2027 – marquee series could take place on a more frequent basis with two Ashes contests every three years as opposed to the current two in four.

Atherton: I am fine with divisions but not tiers

In that sense, the appeal for two tiers is obvious but Sky Sports Cricket pundit and former England captain Michael Atherton says any new structure must allow for movement between the leagues and not create an “entrenched elite”.

He told the Sky Sports Cricket Podcast: “Tiers and divisions are two different things. Divisions implies, to me at least, a chance of promotion and relegation. I’d be fine with that.

“But I’d be anti-tiers where there is no chance for the bottom tier to get into the top tier and it becomes an entrenched elite.”

A proposal for two divisions in Test cricket was rejected by India in 2016 due to a fear of further widening the gap between the format’s top-performing teams and the rest.

That must be a concern again now, with the appetite to feature in Test cricket for players in a second division perhaps diminishing, certainly if no chance of promotion was on the cards.

Lloyd: You only improve playing the best

Sir Clive Lloyd, who captained West Indies during their golden period in the 1970 and 1980s, is “disturbed” by the idea of a two-tier set-up and wants those struggling Test nations to challenge themselves against the best more often.

He said: “I think it will be terrible for all those countries who worked so hard to get the Test status. Now they’ll be playing among themselves in the lower section.

“How are they going to make it to the top? When you play against better teams. That’s how you know how good you are, or how bad you are. I am very disturbed.

“The better system would be to give the teams the same amount of money so they can get the tools to improve.

”We struggle a lot, we need special dispensation. Some at the bottom are not playing Test matches and some are playing a world of Test matches. The system is not right.

“They have to sit down and work it out, that’s what they’re there for. That’s their duty, that’s their job to do that.

“We [West Indies] were the cash cows for a lot of countries over the years … people must recognise that. But we are at that situation now where we need the help, and we can’t get it.”

Hussain: Test cricket has been fabulous recently

West Indies are currently eighth in the ICC Test rankings and have won only three of their last 17 matches in the format – against Zimbabwe, Bangladesh and Australia.

That victory against Australia, in Brisbane in January 2024, was a thriller of a game with fast bowler Shamar Joseph taking seven wickets with a busted toe as the tourists won by eight runs.

That began a year of Test cricket that included Sri Lanka beating England at The Kia Oval, New Zealand inflicting a first series defeat on India at home since 2012, and Australia and India playing out an absorbing Border-Gavaskar Trophy series which saw a record 373,691 spectators turn up across the five days of the Boxing Day Test at the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground.

Sky Sports’ Nasser Hussain said: “Am I just being naïve? I have watched Test cricket this year and it has been absolutely fabulous, it has been box office.

“Some of the cricket, some of the crowds and some of the contests have been incredible.

“Why do people keep saying it is a difficult product to sell? I am watching great Test match cricket but people are saying it is not the product for the future.”

But the success of Australia vs India, and the money series contested between these two and England generate, could convince decision makers that best vs best is the way to go.

Get rid of the ‘clutter’?

It is certainly the direction former England captain Michael Vaughan sees the game heading in, writing in the Telegraph: “I have been saying for a long time the way keep Test cricket relevant is by ensuring we get fewer mis-matches.

“I believe it is a four-day product with a set number of overs each day enforced, three matches minimum per series and two divisions of six, including promotion and relegation.”

Ex-India player and head coach Ravi Shastri added to SEN Radio after his nation’s series in Australia, which the home side won 3-1: “It was a sound reminder to the ICC that the best should play the best for Test cricket to survive. There’s too much of a clutter otherwise.”

There is also the argument that lesser-ranked nations playing each other and having a greater chance to earn victories would be more enjoyable than getting a pasting from the elite.

Albeit not without its critics, football’s Nations League has seen teams play those of a more equal standard, with the likes of San Marino and Gibraltar – previously perennially battered by nations including England – securing rare wins.

Two tiers for Test cricket may be palatable for the format’s newest teams in Afghanistan and Ireland – provided promotion remains a possibility, of course.

Ireland have won their previous two Tests, beating Afghanistan by six wickets in the UAE and Zimbabwe in Belfast by four, after starting their tenure in the format with seven successive defeats, including two to England and a pair of innings losses in Sri Lanka.

‘Test cricket will never be more than a six or seven-nation format’

For former South Africa captain Graeme Smith, Test cricket will always have fewer elite teams compared to T20 but he believes the longest format of the sport can remain in rude health.

“Test cricket, for me, is never going to be more than a six or seven-nation format,” Smith told the Sky Sports Cricket Podcast.

“It is never going to grow to 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 teams like T20 potentially can, so I think there should be more effort made to ensure there is a bilateral programme for Test cricket.

“If you can keep six or seven nations strong, people will always watch. If a good team comes to South Africa, we see good crowds and interest in Test cricket.”

He did add, however: “World cricket needs South Africa strong, needs West Indies strong, needs Sri Lanka to get better.”

How best to keep them strong is the question, though, and one those in charge will hopefully factor into their thinking if discussions over a two-tier system do indeed take place.

Another element will be what happens with India vs Pakistan matches, with the nations not currently playing each other outside of ICC events due to political tensions.

Even in those competitions, India will not play in Pakistan and vice versa until at least 2027 with neutral venues used for the touring side.

India, for example, will play their games in Dubai when Pakistan hosts the ICC Champions Trophy in February and March.

Watch the ICC Champions Trophy live on Sky Sports from February 19. England’s first match is against Australia on February 22.