Sri Lanka veteran Angelo Mathews has called out the International Cricket Council for the meagre number of Test matches his side are scheduled to play this year.
Sri Lanka have experienced an upturn in fortunes in the longest format and were among the favourites to make it to the World Test Championship (WTC) Final until the final spot was finally taken by Australia.
This run included batter Kamindu Mendis equalling Don Bradman to become the fastest to 1000 Test runs in 75 years. “Absolutely shocking to hear that srilanka is only playing 4 test matches this entire year including the aus tests this month @ICC,” said Mathews in a post on X.
Sri Lanka are set to end their current WTC cycle with a two-match series against Australia at home. This series, however, is effectively a dead rubber as the two WTC finalists have already been decided.
After this, however, Sri Lanka are scheduled to play just one series in the new cycle this calendar year - a two-Test rubber against Bangladesh at home.
In 2026, Sri Lanka are scheduled to host the West Indies in June, India in August and Pakistan in November. All series consist of just two Test matches.
Speculation of a two-tier WTC
Mathews’s post comes amid speculation of the ICC considering a two-tier system for the WTC. Australian newspaper ‘The Age’ reports that the matter is slated to be discussed between International Cricket Council (ICC) chairman Jay Shah and executives from Cricket Australia (CA) and England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) this month.
The proposed idea places the top seven nations – Australia, England, India, South Africa, New Zealand, Pakistan and Sri Lanka – in Division 1 and others – Bangladesh, West Indies, Zimbabwe, Afghanistan and Ireland – in Division 2.
The matter was taken up at ICC level in 2016, but was shot down by many boards, including the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). At the time, BCCI’s clout in ICC was based on its benevolence, allowing the India team to tour smaller nations and boost their balance sheet.
With time, Test cricket’s commercial appeal further diminished outside the Big Three nations. Cricket South Africa openly prioritised it’s T20 league by shrinking its Test calendar. That this formula – winning short, sharp series – worked in their favour to make the World Test Championship (WTC) final over England and India, who lost steam their five-Test series in Australia 1-3, explains everything about the make-do WTC arrangement.
On the other end of the scale, the just-concluded Border-Gavaskar Trophy series saw record attendance and new viewership records.
The Boxing Day Test at Melbourne broke all records with 3,73,691 spectators attending. Australia’s Seven Network released data on Monday that their free-to-air coverage of the series reached a record 13.4 million people in Australia.
The Ashes continues to remain a big draw in both England and Australia.
Source: Hindustan Times
--Agencies
