I will outline a format for a World Championship of Test Cricket that would add purpose and variety to international competition, and would be a prudent investment in the future of the game.
Four preliminary rounds and a final ‘rubber’, staggered between existing international fixtures, and played in different countries, would form a tournament analogous to the Davis Cup of tennis. At every stage of the tournament, teams would be ranked on a ladder, initially based on seeding, and then modified according to the results in each round. Ten teams ( a new nation inaugurated to test cricket in this tournament ) would play five matches in the first round, each between matched opponents based on seeding.
After the first and every subsequent round, the ladder would be readjusted according to results and then the bottom two teams would be eliminated. I will term this a "sequential elimination" tournament. Importantly, in the preliminary rounds, drawn matches would not need to be replayed.
| Match | Seedings | Teams | |
| A | 1 vs 2 | Australia vs South Africa | |
| B | 3 vs 4 | West Indies vs India | |
| C | 5 vs 6 | Pakistan vs Sri Lanka | |
| D | 7 vs 8 | England vs New Zealand | |
| E | 9 vs 10 | Zimbabwe vs Bangladesh (?) |
The matches would be played in descending chronological order. For the second round, the ladder would be adjusted so that, for example, the winner of Match C would move ahead of the loser of Match A and ahead of the loser of Match B or both teams in Match B if drawn. The loser of Match C would move behind the winner of Match E and behind the winner of Match D or both teams in Match D if drawn. Both teams in a drawn match would remain adjacent on the revised ladder but in inverted order. In the second and subsequent rounds, a team would again play the most evenly matched opposition, based on the revised ladder.
After four rounds, only two teams would remain to contest the final "rubber". In the first instance, this would consist of a single test match, the winner becoming World Champion. In the case of a drawn first match, a second match would be required ( with a second toss of the coin ). In the case of two draws, the team losing the toss in the first match would win the "rubber", and the World Championship of Test Cricket.
The tournament would have taken around two years to complete, considering existing international cricket schedules. The most successful teams would have played more matches and their share of the revenue would be correspondingly greater.
The outcome of the tournament would be a realistic comparison between teams. The initial seeding would not unfairly disadvantage the bottom seed who would be assured of progress to the next round with a victory over relatively poor opposition. The top seeds could not be eliminated in the first round, but would have to perform better than highly ranked opposition to remain at the top of the table. After one or two rounds, position on the table would reflect current form rather than initial seeding.
The more highly-ranked team in each match (marked in bold in the first round draw above) would play at home. A team playing away from home would not be disadvantaged, since after a drawn match they would move ahead of their opponents on the ladder.
The World Championship tournament would be complementary to the recently proposed ranking system of test-playing nations based on conventional test series results. Some countries play infrequently in Test matches however, and there would be a time lag between achievement and ascendancy on the ranking system. The interest in such a system would then be largely retrospective: without a championship tournament of some sort, there would be no endpoint to focus attention.
Unlike a "round-robin" tournament, all matches would be vital to the outcome of the "sequential elimination" tournament. Unlike a standard "knockout" tournament, even the early matches would be between evenly matched opposition, and replays of drawn games would not be necessary. The "sequential elimination" format is most likely to ensure tight, attacking Test cricket, without compromising the integrity of the game.
If successful, future tournaments could be expanded to accommodate new opposition at the bottom of the ladder, without risking uneven and uninteresting matches. The gap in cricketing skills between ICC full and associate member countries would then be narrowed, such that even qualified success for young cricket nations might inspire national pride and interest in the game. It is the limited scope of the current format of competition that has limited the popularity of test cricket. It is a bold revision of that format that will secure the future of the game.
Footnotes:
1. Matthew Engel, editor of Wisden Cricketer's Almanack, proposes a system in which Test teams are ranked based on most recent test results between each team in each country. The ranking in the table is that at the end of 1996 (Source: Wisden Cricket Monthly)
2. On an appropriately prepared pitch, the chance of the toss-winner winning a Test match would be about 40 percent, the toss-loser winning 30 percent and a draw 30 percent. In this case the chance of a team winning the final "rubber" would be:
The advantage gained from winning the toss would be nullified, and the winner of the Test "rubber" would truly be the superior cricket team.