7 March, 2002
-- Saurabh Wahi
Perfection is a continuous process of making something near perfect, nearly perfect.
In the previous article, I laid the groundwork and justified the need to have a consistent, well-spread schedule for basing the ICC's Test Championship. In this article, I will put together such a schedule and call it the PWC, or the Perfect World Championship schedule.
To illustrate, I will base it on a 4-year cycle and assume 9 teams; India, Australia, Pakistan, West Indies, Sri Lanka, New Zealand, England, South Africa & Team X (which represents Zimbabwe & Bangladesh). Having explained the basic principle of this 9-team format using Team X, I have expanded it to a 10-team format by replacing Team X by Bangladesh & Zimbabwe appropriately.
PWC Schedule - 9 teams
Season 1 |
Host |
Visitor |
Australia |
Sri Lanka |
Australia |
India |
England |
Australia |
England |
West Indies |
India |
England |
India |
Team X |
New Zealand |
Sri Lanka |
New Zealand |
Team X |
Pakistan |
West Indies |
Pakistan |
India |
South Africa |
Pakistan |
South Africa |
New Zealand |
Sri Lanka |
South Africa |
Sri Lanka |
Pakistan |
Team X |
Australia |
Team X |
England |
West Indies |
New Zealand |
West Indies |
|
Season 2 |
Host |
Visitor |
Australia |
New Zealand |
Australia |
Pakistan |
England |
Sri Lanka |
England |
South Africa |
India |
West Indies |
India |
New Zealand |
New Zealand |
England |
New Zealand |
Pakistan |
Pakistan |
Team X |
Pakistan |
England |
South Africa |
India |
South Africa |
Australia |
Sri Lanka |
India |
Sri Lanka |
Team X |
Team X |
West Indies |
Team X |
South Africa |
West Indies |
Australia |
West Indies |
Sri Lanka |
Season 3 |
Host |
Visitor |
Australia |
England |
Australia |
Team X |
England |
India |
England |
Team X |
India |
Pakistan |
India |
Australia |
New Zealand |
South Africa |
New Zealand |
West Indies |
Pakistan |
South Africa |
Pakistan |
Sri Lanka |
South Africa |
Sri Lanka |
South Africa |
West Indies |
Sri Lanka |
New Zealand |
Sri Lanka |
Australia |
Team X |
India |
Team X |
New Zealand |
West Indies |
England |
West Indies |
Pakistan |
Season 4 |
Host |
Visitor |
Australia |
South Africa |
Australia |
West Indies |
England |
Pakistan |
England |
New Zealand |
India |
South Africa |
India |
Sri Lanka |
New Zealand |
India |
New Zealand |
Australia |
Pakistan |
New Zealand |
Pakistan |
Australia |
South Africa |
England |
South Africa |
Team X |
Sri Lanka |
England |
Sri Lanka |
West Indies |
Team X |
Pakistan |
Team X |
Sri Lanka |
West Indies |
India |
West Indies |
Team X |
The above 9-team PWC schedule is based on two simple principles:
1. All Teams play four Test-Series every season, two at home & two away.
2. Teams meet each other every alternate seasons, so if England hosts Australia in season 1, Australia will host England in season 3, etc.
I will now expand the above schedule to 10 teams without upsetting the above two principles for the eight named teams in the 9-team schedule.
According to the above format, the schedule for Team X reads as:
Season 1 |
Host |
Visitor |
India |
Team X |
New Zealand |
Team X |
Team X |
Australia |
Team X |
England |
Season 2 |
Host |
Visitor |
Pakistan |
Team X |
Sri Lanka |
Team X |
Team X |
West Indies |
Team X |
South Africa |
Season 3 |
Host |
Visitor |
Australia |
Team X |
England |
Team X |
Team X |
India |
Team X |
New Zealand |
Season 4 |
Host |
Visitor |
South Africa |
Team X |
Team X |
Pakistan |
Team X |
Sri Lanka |
West Indies |
Team X |
Now if we replace Team X by Zimbabwe & Bangladesh alternately in the above schedule, and add a series between Bangladesh & Zimbabwe every alternate season (say seasons 2 & 4), we get a new schedule that looks something like this:
Season 1 |
Host |
Visitor |
India |
Zimbabwe |
New Zealand |
Bangladesh |
Zimbabwe |
Australia |
Bangladesh |
England |
Season 2 |
Host |
Visitor |
Pakistan |
Zimbabwe |
Sri Lanka |
Bangladesh |
Zimbabwe |
West Indies |
Bangladesh |
South Africa |
Zimbabwe |
Bangladesh |
Season 3 |
Host |
Visitor |
Australia |
Bangladesh |
England |
Zimbabwe |
Bangladesh |
India |
Zimbabwe |
New Zealand |
Season 4 |
Host |
Visitor |
South Africa |
Zimbabwe |
Bangladesh |
Pakistan |
Zimbabwe |
Sri Lanka |
West Indies |
Bangladesh |
Bangladesh |
Zimbabwe |
With the above changes, the final 10-team PWC schedule will be as follows:
Complete PWC Schedule - 10 teams
Season 1 |
Host |
Visitor |
Australia |
Sri Lanka |
Australia |
India |
England |
Australia |
England |
West Indies |
India |
England |
India |
Zimbabwe |
New Zealand |
Sri Lanka |
New Zealand |
Bangladesh |
Pakistan |
West Indies |
Pakistan |
India |
South Africa |
Pakistan |
South Africa |
New Zealand |
Sri Lanka |
South Africa |
Sri Lanka |
Pakistan |
Zimbabwe |
Australia |
Bangladesh |
England |
West Indies |
New Zealand |
West Indies |
South Africa |
Season 2 |
Host |
Visitor |
Australia |
New Zealand |
Australia |
Pakistan |
England |
Sri Lanka |
England |
South Africa |
India |
West Indies |
India |
New Zealand |
New Zealand |
England |
New Zealand |
Pakistan |
Pakistan |
Zimbabwe |
Pakistan |
England |
South Africa |
India |
South Africa |
Australia |
Sri Lanka |
India |
Sri Lanka |
Bangladesh |
Zimbabwe |
West Indies |
Bangladesh |
South Africa |
West Indies |
Australia |
West Indies |
Sri Lanka |
Zimbabwe |
Bangladesh |
Season 3 |
Host |
Visitor |
Australia |
England |
Australia |
Bangladesh |
England |
India |
England |
Zimbabwe |
India |
Pakistan |
India |
Australia |
New Zealand |
South Africa |
New Zealand |
West Indies |
Pakistan |
South Africa |
Pakistan |
Sri Lanka |
South Africa |
Sri Lanka |
South Africa |
West Indies |
Sri Lanka |
New Zealand |
Sri Lanka |
Australia |
Bangladesh |
India |
Zimbabwe |
New Zealand |
West Indies |
England |
West Indies |
Pakistan |
Season 4 |
Host |
Visitor |
Australia |
South Africa |
Australia |
West Indies |
England |
Pakistan |
England |
New Zealand |
India |
South Africa |
India |
Sri Lanka |
New Zealand |
India |
New Zealand |
Australia |
Pakistan |
New Zealand |
Pakistan |
Australia |
South Africa |
England |
South Africa |
Zimbabwe |
Sri Lanka |
England |
Sri Lanka |
West Indies |
Bangladesh |
Pakistan |
Zimbabwe |
Sri Lanka |
West Indies |
India |
West Indies |
Bangladesh |
Bangladesh |
Zimbabwe |
Zimbabwe & Bangladesh play one home & one away series every season, against one of the eight teams. Hence, they will meet the other eight teams exactly once in a four-year cycle (either home or away). In addition, they will also play additional series in Seasons 2 & 4 against each other.
Great! I have put together a schedule that is different from the ICC's. But does it mean that it is any better? Also, is this not over-crowded schedule? And what about the traditional test series like the Ashes?
To be able to answers these questions, I have to compare the two schedules, which I will do in the next article. In the meanwhile, I will leave you with one question:
Isn't a schedule in which all the top eight test playing nations play 4 Test Series every season, 2 at home and 2 away, and meet each other every alternate season, a better way to determine a 'Champion', irrespective of the parameters used to determine the Champion?
The next article analyzes the differences between the current schedule as defined by the ICC and the proposed Perfect World Cup (PWC) schedule.
Part I: The ideal ICC Test Championship
Part II: The ICC's Championship: A Rating or a Championship
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Mail Saurabh Wahi