Mani dismisses two-tier Test cricket

Less than a week after the ICC seemed to suggest that it was prepared to consider reducing the number of matches involving Bangladesh and Zimbabwe, Ehsan Mani, the ICC's president, has said that weaker countries need exposure if they are to develop.

An ICC spokesman had indicated to Cricinfo that Bangladesh and Zimbabwe might be limited to home appearances only across a six-year cycle, as part of a two-tier system to combat the twin problems of fixture overload and uncompetitive matches.

"To talk about a two-tier system, I think, is wrong," Mani told the Indo-Asian News Service during a visit to India earlier this week. Rather than segregate the two countries, he argued that the ICC should "actually find positive ways of helping them".

"We have Australia on top and then you have seven other countries that are quite close. There is not much difference in Test or one-day cricket between the No. 2 and the No. 8 countries ... and, yes, then there is a big drop [to Bangladesh and Zimbabwe]. What is important for us is to help these countries and not marginalise them."

The ICC is thought to be coming under pressure from some of the top eight countries who see often one-sided series against the weakest teams as an unnecessary burden on their players as well as being commercially unattractive. But Mani made clear his view was that once a member, always a member. "If weaker teams have a problem," he argued, "it's the problem of the international cricket community, and we have to find the ways of helping them."

But Mani did agree that there were issues over international scheduling, which would be addressed when the ICC meet in New Delhi next month. "We are looking at the whole way we are running world cricket, whether the ten-year plan is the right programme, or whether is should be eight years or twelve years."

One possible way of easing the situation could be playing more games in traditional off-seasons. "If we could play in June or July in some countries - in Zimbabwe, you can, actually - maybe we should be looking from that point of view."