We welcome the fact that that the International Cricket Council (ICC) has awarded the much coveted Test status to two more countries-Afghanistan and Ireland. These two teams were widely considered as the strongest cricketing power among the associate members of ICC and they have earned the Test status – the format that is considered the sport’s highest level of competition.  Afghanistan and Ireland will be the first new Test countries since Bangladesh’s promotion to the sport’s most exclusive club in 2000.
Ireland has a rich cricket tradition and many Irish players have played County cricket and other professional leagues in England. Indeed several Irish players have played international cricket for England. With a solid infrastructure in place Ireland is like to carve a niche for themselves at the Test arena, sooner rather than later.
Afghanistan’s journey to cricket’s elite has been particularly remarkable; its promotion to Test status comes only 13 years after the national team’s first official international fixture. The sport first took hold among Afghan refugees living in Pakistan during the 1980s, after they had fled the country’s civil war. Now they will play Test cricket which has a long and history. Afghanistan is also one of the few countries where the sport was not introduced by the English.
Cricket has evolved from a strictly amateur game into a multibillion-dollar industry that is starting to grow exponentially as the developing world embraces the sport. Although cricket may have been invented in England, from a purely business perspective, India is now starting to dominate the sport, with Indian cricket expected to overshadow the next Ashes.
There is a need for cricket to become more globalised. And for that to happen we need to encourage more and more teams to participate, obviously not at the cost of dropping the standard of play but we need to look at how we can get these countries to raise their standard of playing which is only going to rise when they start playing against the top sides. Both Afghanistan and Ireland have enjoyed some notable successes at international level in the shorter versions of the game. We can now look forward to some great days ahead as the teams take on the top Test cricket playing nations in the world.