BCB cautious about ICCs 2-tier system for Test cricket
Sports Reporter
The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) remained watchful as ICC mooted a constitutional change incorporating the two-tier system for Test cricket with promotion and relegation between them.
The board has already started working with it in a bid to find out the positive and negative aspects of the proposal, considering the other boards might not go against the decision this time. Bangladesh earlier somehow managed to impede the move with the help of some other lower-ranked side before Australia, England and India proposed it again during ICCs restructuring in 2014.
But this time it might not be so easy with the BCBs chief executive officer Nazimuddin Chowdhury didnt see any strong reaction from the other board members as yet.
The constitutional change will be discussed in ICCs annual general meeting starting on June 27 in Edinburg and could come into effect after the 2019 World Cup.
Based on the current rankings, West Indies, Bangladesh and Zimbabwe would slip into division two and they will be joined by two best teams from the 2015-17 Intercontinental Cup.
Chowdhury said the board will sort out every aspect on the proposal before taking their stance. For the time being he however saw some positive outcomes in it when there are some negative aspects also.
The reality is, at the moment, we havent have enough opportunity to play with the big Test nations. According to the proposal, well play lower ranked side over the two years and there is possibility that we can finish as champion after two years cycle. If we can join the top Test nations, according to the proposal, we can play all of the big teams in the next two years at home and away basis. Its a good notion which we can take as a challenge, Chowdhury explained.
At the moment we stand on ninth position in Test rankings and the difference between us and seventh ranked team in rating points is huge. To be honest we cant reduce the gap and move into the seventh position so early since we are not getting enough chance to play the highest ranked teams.
Bangladeshs rating point is now 57 while the seventh ranked Sri Lanka have 88.
Bangladesh will get West Indies, Zimbabwe and two teams from Intercontinental Cup in its group if the new proposal is passed. Chowdhury however is quite confident that they can topple West Indies and Zimbabwe in its bid to join the elite nation in division one.
The negative aspect is what well do if we cant finish in top position in division two. That means we have to play against the lower ranked side again for two years cycle. Its a question what should be solved. And if we move into the division one, do we really get to play all of the big teams in next two years cycle? Some other questions also might be raised what we should ponder.
We should discuss about it at length and the board will take the final decision after sorting out all of the aspects, he added.
If the two-tier system is approved Bangladesh will be denied of an opportunity to play Test cricket against the top teams, which many officials feared would inevitably take countrys cricket backward. BCB CEO doesnt want to mention it like two-tier system rather he termed the system as the form of cricket globalization.
Like us, other countries are also passionate to play the Test cricket. So the ICC thinks they should get a chance.
It is said it will also affect the revenue of the BCB as it will then earn very insignificant amount from television rights.
Chowdhury however said the ICC vowed that the revenue of BCB will be not affected in that case since the share of income will be distributed equally. According to Chowdhury, India might not agree with the proposal since the thing like Big-3 is not there and also they might be reluctant to share the revenue.
