The International Cricket Council (ICC) is expected to give the long-awaited booster dose to Test cricket by approving a Test Championship at its board meeting in Auckland on Friday. Test cricket, founded on bilateral contests, is gasping for breath with dwindling interest barring the Ashes series and big-ticket clashes involving India due to its commercial pull. The Test Championship has been pushed by the ICC Cricket Committee headed by India’s Anil Kumble and ICC bosses have long pleaded that the longest format won’t survive the Twenty20 storm without context. The ICC push – Cricket Australia CEO James Sutherland is an advocate for the Test Championship – has faced opposition from the Indian cricket Board, which is also against the two-tier Test format. Test cricket has struggled for too long.

Source: Hindustan Times October 10, 2017 14:03 UTC