By CricketCountry Staff
Ireland bowler Boyd Rankin’s suggestion of granting Test status to the group of best talents from Associate nations has been turned down by the International Cricket Council (ICC).
Published: Jan 12, 2012, 06:16 PM (IST)
Edited: Jan 12, 2012, 06:16 PM (IST)
Boyd Rankin’s suggestion of granting Test status to the group of best talents from Associate nations has been turned down by the ICC
By CricketCountry Staff
Dubai: Jan 12, 2012
Ireland bowler Boyd Rankin’s suggestion of granting Test status to the group of best talents from Associate nations has been turned down by the International Cricket Council (ICC).
David Richardson recently said that the council is not thinking of giving any Test status.
“Test cricket has generally been considered as nation versus nation and the top performing nations against each other, restricted to the 10 full members. So anything like this would have to be seriously thought through before any decision can be made,” Richardson told BBC.
Earlier Rankin had said, “In terms of performances it can show the ICC there is room for an Associate team playing Test cricket. A Combined ICC team is more than capable of playing against the best sides in the world.”
However Rankin has found support in Cricket Scotland and Cricket Kenya.
Roddy Smith, the CEO of Cricket Scotland said,” If you ask Boyd Rankin he would rather play Test cricket for Ireland than playing Test cricket for the ICC Associate combined team.”
According to Smith, the best team of the “Associate World” should get the opportunity to play multi-cricket “at the highest level possible” till this small nations get the Test status.
“So yes I’m very supportive of the ICC combined side; in the short term it is the good way forward but in the longer term all the individual countries would like to play Test cricket.”
Even the CEO of Cricket Kenya, Tom Sears has been supportive. He said, “as long as it does not preclude any country becoming a Test playing nation.”
“I would go further and say any two countries can play a five-day Test match against each other as long as they satisfy certain criteria,” he told.
“Why can’t Kenya play Ireland in a Test? To me there is no valid reason and it could inject new life into Test cricket – something the ICC say they are committed to doing.”
Although, ICC accepted that in other games like rugby, there are combined teams, such as the Combined Arabian Gulf team.
“Yes, there is a precedent for it as you mention
But bearing in mind that certain countries like Ireland have got their own ambitions of getting Test status at some point so it is (Rankin’s call) something that has not been thought of before, up to now,” Richardson added.
