BCB vice-president against two-tier Test system

The ICC's proposal for a two-tier Test system has not been received well in Bangladesh with the BCB's vice-president Mahbubul Anam the latest to voice dissent as he feared for the growth of cricket in the country.

As part of a widespread overhaul, David Richardson, the ICC chief executive, had said they were contemplating an increase in the number of countries with Test status and then separating them into two groups - the top seven and the bottom five - based on performance. Should this happen, Bangladesh, who are ranked ninth, are likely to slip into Division Two and settle for lesser Tests against top cricketing nations.

"We do not support this system," Mahbubul said. "We believe that more we play against competitive sides, the better we will get. If we didn't play against better standard sides in ODIs, we wouldn't have come this far. We were the king of the jungle from where we achieved the Test status. We were given a reality check when we were promoted to the highest level. I feel that if we go backwards, our cricket will regress."

As a veteran official who has represented the Bangladesh board at ICC, Mahbubul was disappointed that the global governing body was thinking about creating a "special class" of teams.

"It is the ICC's responsibility to globalise the game and not create a special class," he said. "Other sports are spreading while cricket is becoming limited. I don't think this should be the target of a global organisation."

Bangladesh gained Test status in 2000, but if they are relegated, they may have go through a two-year grind in Division Two to earn a promotion.

Mahbubul is the third of the BCB directors after Ahmed Sajjadul Alam and Tanjil Chowdhury to speak against the two-tier proposal. The views of Nazmul Hassan, the BCB president, are not public yet.