Tiddlers need a League apart (30 May 1999)

30 May 1999

Tiddlers need a league apart

Scyld Berry

It is the problem which every fisherman knows: you have got three tiddlers and don't know what to do with them. In this instance, however, the International Cricket Council cannot throw Bangladesh, Kenya and Scotland back and forget they ever existed.

In this World Cup so far, unfortunately, there has been no sign of these countries beating anyone except each other. Bangladesh and Kenya have official one-day international status, but barely a handful of players each who deserve such an honour. While Scotland have their rugged seamers, only one of their specialist batsmen has reached 20 in the tournament, making them even more dependent on Gavin Hamilton than West Indies on Brian Lara.

At the end of this year, the ICC have to sit down and review the ODI status of Bangladesh and Kenya, and the value of Test countries sending A tours to Scotland and Ireland, Holland and Denmark in the effort to globalise the game. One of the ideas being floated is for the associate member countries to field a combined International XI in certain one-day tournaments, composed of Tikolos and Mehrabs, Brinkleys and Sujis. But as with regional cricket in England, who on earth would be interested in an artificially created team?

Bangladesh's application for Test status is actually on the table of the ICC at the moment: they have been proposed and seconded but have yet to decide when to apply. "We haven't got them on a particular time-frame," says David Richards, ICC chief executive, but looking into his crystal ball, he envisages them being a Test country in 10 years "without compromising standards".

The question is what to do with all these tiddlers in the meantime as they wriggle around not only in nets but in the middle as well. The first essential to appreciate though is obvious: that to raise playing standards, including and especially in one-day cricket, these countries have to play first-class cricket without overs limitations. Only then will their batsmen cease to perish in an orgy of nicks and dabs at balls outside offstump and their bowlers develop the pace to contain.

The ICC would best use resources, therefore, by setting up a division of those countries which are below Test level but capable of eventually forming a first-class team. Not only Bangladesh, Kenya and Scotland but Holland, Denmark, Ireland, Canada, the United States and possibly Bermuda.

Then let these countries play one mini-Test to a finish against one another home and away over the next five years and promote the winners - probably Bangladesh - to be the 10th Test country at the end of the cycle. Such an experiment, besides raising standards, would also serve as a prototype for a world championship of Test countries.

Source :: Electronic Telegraph (https://www.telegraph.co.uk)