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Melbourne: Steve Waugh has joined the MCC cricket committee in calling for a World Championship of Tests to stop the longer form of the game from spluttering into extinction. The surge in popularity of Twenty20 threatens to endanger the five-day format in all countries apart from Australia and England, and the committee wants a global tournament at least every two years to help reinvigorate the game.
Waugh, who is on the committee which includes Rahul Dravid, Geoffrey Boycott and Courtney Walsh, will recommend the change to the ICC later this year. "Test cricketers want to play for a world championship, like what happens in one-day and Twenty20," Waugh said. "Something has to be done to lift the game's profile."
Martin Crowe, the former New Zealand batsman, suggested an eight-team format in the two days of meetings at Lord's in which teams play three-match series and then move towards the semi-finals and final. The committee said the proposal, which must first reach an ICC agenda, would fit in with the current Future Tours Programme.
"If there's something to play for, it's definitely going to make a difference," Dravid said. "This sort of thing would help motivate players because when No. 7 plays No. 8 it's almost meaningless." A ranking system is currently employed by the ICC and Australia sit on top of the table after beating South Africa in March.
Other aspects the committee hope will increase the attractiveness of Tests include playing day-night games using a pink ball. "We are hoping to stage one here next year against Bangladesh," the MCC's head of cricket John Stephenson said. "We would like to experiment with a pink ball. We've done the research and think it's worth trying. We want to safeguard the future of Test cricket."
After the meetings the committee also demanded stricter controls on the number of international players appearing in the IPL. "The committee is deeply concerned that the proliferation of lucrative domestic Twenty20 leagues, such as the Indian Premier League, will lead to the premature retirement of quality international cricketers," the committee said. "Those from the lower-ranked Test nations could be particularly susceptible to such a career choice, based on earnings alone."
The IPL chairman and commissioner Lalit Modi spoke to the group for more than an hour on Tuesday and emphasised that the league's success stemmed from it being market-driven.
