Last week CEO Todd Greenberg had stirred up a bit of controversy when he said that forcing some cricket countries to play the traditional 5-day format might bring financial ruin upon those aforementioned nations, saying that in the future should only be played with a handful of teams.
“I don’t think everyone in world cricket needs to aspire to play test cricket, and that might be Ok. We’re literally trying to send countries bankrupt if we force them to try to play test cricket. Scarcity in test cricket is our friend, not our foe,” Greenberg had said.
Reacting to Greenberg’s opinion, former England player Michael Vaughan posted on X, saying “How about spread the wealth of the game around so this doesn’t happen. ?” which was in turn quote-tweeted by legendary player Sir Geoffrey Boycott slamming the idea and saying that big teams like India, England and Australia don’t want to share their wealth.
“Absolutely spot on Michael. Australia, India and England are greedy they don’t want to give any away,” Boycott posted on X.
The Big Three
India, England and Australia are often referred to as the ‘Big Three’ in cricket. Test series between them are played over five matches and attract a lot of eyeballs and revenue. The just-concluded Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy saw nail-biting contests, high drama and on-field skirmishes in a series that ended 2-2 after a classic at The Oval. The 2023 Ashes in England was also a memorable encounter, also finishing 2-2 after the hosts recovered from a 0-2 deficit. The return series Down Under, starting in November this year, is highly anticipated.
The International Cricket Council (ICC) has set up a Working Group under former New Zealand batsman Roger Twose to look into ways of improving the WTC format ahead of the 2027-29 cycle, and one of the options on the table is a two-tier system with promotion and relegation built into it.