'Countries may go bankrupt if forced to play Test cricket', says CA CEO Greenberg

Cricket Australia (CA) chief executive Todd Greenberg has cautioned that some countries may go bankrupt if they persist in playing Test cricket, adding that he sees a future where fewer nations are featured in the game’s longest format.

As of now, nine teams compete in the World Test Championship (WTC), but a working group was made during the ICC Annual Conference in Singapore to assess if a two-tier Test system is feasible.

“I don’t think there is a right number (of Test-playing nations)… But I think in the future scarcity in Test cricket is our friend, not our foe. What I mean by that is, I don’t think everyone in world cricket needs to aspire to play Test cricket and that might be OK.

“A lot of traditionalists might not like that (and) I’m not suggesting I know the number that will play, but literally we’re trying to send countries bankrupt if we force them to play Test cricket. We need to make sure we invest in the right spaces and play Test cricket where it means something and has jeopardy.

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“That’s why the Ashes will be as enormous and as profitable as it is because it means something … it means something to every player. We’ve got to make sure when we play Test cricket that’s at the top of our mind,” said Greenberg to reporters on the sidelines of 100 days to go for the Ashes event.

Though Greenberg stopped short of giving his clear view on a two-tier Test system, he did say it was ‘incumbent’ on Australia to explore ways of sustaining the longest format. “I’ve got an open mind to that question because I don’t know the details to what a two-tiered structure would look like. Test cricket needs an injection of capital and an injection of resources because it can’t just be about Australia, India and England – it needs to be bigger than that.

Red-ball cricket in this country, and in England and in India, is unbelievably successful but it’s not like that in all parts of the world. It’s incumbent on us to make sure we play our part to help, so the concept of tiers I think needs to be explored. I’m not prepared to say we’re against something until we see all the details,” he added.

Greenberg further said he is open to staging red-ball matches in Queensland and the Northern Territory during winter. Australia are currently hosting South Africa in T20Is and ODIs in Darwin, Cairns and Mackay. Darwin and Cairns last hosted Tests almost 20 years ago.

"I was in Darwin on Sunday night (for the first T20I). I went there primarily because it meant a lot to the people of the Northern Territory. They hadn't had international cricket there for the best part of 17 years. The one thing when you go there at this time of year is you take the one biggest variable away, which is the weather. Great facilities, I can see that (Tests) happening," he said.