SMITH NOT HAVING IT Graeme Smith said a two-tier system in Test cricket would not be fair. Photo: Brenton Geach/AFP
Image: Brenton Geach/AFP
Legendary former Proteas skipper Graeme Smith is against a proposed two-tier Test cricket system.
The idea has been touted over the last week as the Melbourne Age reported that the International Cricket Council (ICC) chairman Jay Shay will meet with representatives from England and Australia on the topic of a new two-tier system for Test cricket.
It would mean the top seven nations (England, Australia, India, South Africa, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and New Zealand) make up in the top tier, while West Indies, Bangladesh, Ireland, Afghanistan and Zimbabwe would form the second group.
Any proposed change would come into effect from mid-2027. However, it smacks of the top three nations (India, England and Australia) being protectionist and self-serving in their retention of power, amongst the three wealthiest cricket nations.
It would result in the big three playing each other on a more regular basis, which would hardly promote growing the game globally.
“Can you see a world where there are only three nations playing cricket in the future?” Said Smith Sky on Sports Cricket Podcast.
“I was just looking at a note this morning at how much England and India are playing each other over the next period, and Australia and vice versa. It gets extremely hard for the other nations… India are probably the best because they are commercially so reliable for the other nations.”
Smith said that only in cricket would you encounter a scenario like this.
“But where do you find the top three nations playing each other all the time? And you can only imagine in the next FTP cycle how that’s been tied up in the background.
“How does the ICC create a structure that’s fair in the top three’s eyes? I think what world cricket needs is, it needs South Africa to be strong, the West Indies to be strong, needs Sri Lanka to get better. Otherwise …”
Smith who led the Proteas when they lifted the World Test mace in 2012, which would be the equivalent of winning the World Test Championship (WTC) final now, said: “We (South Africa) are in the World Test Championship final.
“We’ve got a chance to win the mace. I think that’s the key. You’ve got to do what you’ve got to do, and South Africa has done that. I think over the last couple of years, their win percentages are pretty decent if you go and look over a period of time.”
This follows the comments of former England captain Michael Vaughan who led the calls to change the WTC format. That came after he said: “If you look at South Africa, they’ve got to the final by beating pretty much nobody. I don’t understand the table; I don’t understand the system we have in place.”