Former West Indies captain Clive Lloyd, a revered figure in the cricketing world, has passionately criticized the proposed two-tier system for Test cricket. Lloyd, who led the West Indies to two World Cup victories, believes that this system would be detrimental to the growth and development of cricket in smaller and emerging nations. His concerns are rooted in the potential marginalization of these countries, which have worked tirelessly to achieve and maintain their Test status.
Clive Lloyd’s Concern for Smaller Nations
Lloyd argues that the two-tier system would create an uneven playing field, where only the top-tier nations would have the privilege of playing high-profile, lucrative Test matches.
“I think it will be terrible for all those countries who work so hard to get to Test match status and now they’ll be playing among themselves in the lower section,” Lloyd was quoted as saying in the Trinidad & Tobago Guardian.
Lloyd also expressed dismay over former ICC chairman Greg Barclay’s controversial suggestion to disband the West Indies team and have them compete as individual nations. “We (West Indies) have a great history and now you’re going to tell us because of a monetary situation, (we should be disbanded).”
Financial Disparities
A major point of Lloyd’s criticism is the financial aspect. He highlights that the unequal distribution of funds by the International Cricket Council (ICC) has already created a significant performance gap between the top three cricketing nations (India, Australia, and England) and the rest.
He also criticised the structure of the World Test Championship (WTC) cycle, describing it as poorly organized.
The WTC spans two years but excludes three Test-playing nations—Zimbabwe, Afghanistan, and Ireland—while the remaining nine teams do not face each other evenly during the cycle. “It’s not well organised as such because if I am in a Test team, I want to play cricket so I can qualify for that system,” said Lloyd.
“They (ICC and cricket boards) should sit down and have a system where it’s not only T20 cricket. People still want to watch Test cricket and until we get that right, we will all be in this system.”
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