Perhaps “sanctity” is too much of hyperbole, but I have always felt that Test matches occupy a stratospheric level in cricket or even in all sport. In what other game do you have matches that are played over 5 days (or in the past for Timeless Tests, for no pre-determined duration). Tests are meant to be the ultimate, true challenge for teams who vie to the best. Test matches are cruel to upstarts. A Test match does not reward a freak performance by an individual player unlike ODI’s and T20′s. A team cannot rejoice because of some stroke of fortune, it must keep its guard up all the time, lest the other team sense an opening and crash through it.

The nature of Test matches means that differences between teams are much more pronounced, and show up in badly one-sided results. The recently-concluded Sri Lanka-Bangladesh tour confirms this in ample measure, if you hadn’t already been convinced by the previous Bangladesh series. There is no meaningful contest here, and the only interest is which players take the opportunity to set some personal milestones, like Dilshan, who just hit a century in each innings.

So, what we get is statistics pollution. We have so many nonsense games that make a mockery of Test records. You have teams cranking up huge scores and bowling the other team for next to nothing, and players making runs and taking wickets by the bucketful. What we have is the same scenario if a Test team plays against a 1st-class team and the records are added to Test annals. 

There is a bigger problem at work here. The ICC wants to expand cricket to more countries. So Test cricket for Bangladesh seems like a wise choice. But when you have a record of 52 losses in 59 Test matches, that is not expanding cricket’s popularity. It condemns Bangladesh to be an under-achieving cricket nation and diminishes its growth. What Bangladesh needs is more close contests and, particularly, more wins.

So what I would suggest is create a 2nd tier of Test matches – a group of 5 to 10 countries that have acquitted themselves reasonably well in the ODI arena. Create a new statistics track for these Test matches, different from 1st class, but not Test level either. Have 3-day Tests to start with, so that mismatches will not result in grotesque batting orgies by one team, as they will have to declare by the 3rd day. The matches can extend to 4 days or 5 days after a year of matches. This will allow Bangladesh, Zimbabwe, Kenya, UAE and other nations to play a lot more matches. They can gain greater confidence and prepare themselves for the main Test teams.

Here is the 2nd part: Bangladesh will be out of the regular Test circuit, but it can play one-off new-style Tests against the major Test playing nations. If it succeeds in winning a mini-Test, it earns the right to play 5 regular Tests in the next 24 months. If it draws a mini-Test without the help of the weather, it can play 2 regular Tests. The batting/bowling efforts of the players of the major Test teams will be recorded as part of the mini-Test stats and not the regular Test stats. As the 2nd tier progresses, more teams there can earn the right to play mini-Tests against the top Test teams. If they perform well there, they can earn the right to play regular Tests.

Thus, we keep the regular Tests pristine. We provide more match opportunities for weaker teams, and give them a way to graduate into the bigger leagues. Of course, this is all very unlikely to happen as the ICC is more concerned with money-making and ad-hoc decisions than a structured way to improve the game. We will see.