Legendary former West Indies cricket captain Clive Lloyd responded strongly to media reports out of Australia, that talks are underway to split Test-playing teams into two divisions.
A report in the Sydney Morning Herald on Monday has suggested that Australia, England, India and the International Cricket Council’s new chairman Jay Shah are in talks to split Test cricket into two divisions so the big three nations can play each other more often.
The report noted that the concept of two tiers in Test cricket was previously floated at the ICC level in 2016, with a model where seven nations would compete in the top division and five in the second rank.
It added that any plan for a move to two divisions in Test cricket would kick in after the end of the current Future Tours Programme in 2027.
However, Lloyd does not see West Indies, currently ranked eighth out of 12 Test teams, recovering if they were confined to a tier two.
However in a regional and international zoom media meeting call yesterday, Sir Clive said the West Indies are already in a very vulnerable situation, adding that the two tier system would make them even.
Lloyd who led the Caribbean team in 125 Tests in which time they became the unofficial world champions, and in 87 One-Day Internationals and back-to-back World Cup titles in 1975 and 1979 said the Windies deserved special consideration.
Lloyd says the West Indies needs special dispensation because for years they were the cash cows for a lot of countries and that must count for something.
He said the West Indies has been in the ICC for nearly 100 years,and perhaps has been the most successful Test team over the years.
And Sir Clive added that West Indies aside, a two tier system would be bad for all smaller Test nations.
He questioned the great financial imbalance in how the world governing body distributes its funds.
He says he is yet to understand how of the ten test playing nations, three are getting 180 million and seven getting 80 million.
