Cricket Australia mulls Global Test championship to counter Twenty20 craze

To protect traditional cricket against encroachment from the Twenty20 revolution, Cricket Australia has thrown its support behind a global Test championship.

Melbourne, June 9 : To protect traditional cricket against encroachment from the Twenty20 revolution, Cricket Australia has thrown its support behind a global Test championship.

Cricket Australia chief executive James Sutherland emphasised the importance of promoting Tests at a time of immense uncertainty.

Administrators are under enormous pressure to carve a window in the Test programme, and with the Twenty20 format continuing to gain global currency; Sutherland said a Test championship would help guard against intrusions from other competitions.

"If there are some opportunities to build some structure that enhances the contest between countries and builds to some form of climax, I think that is a positive," The Age quoted Sutherland, as saying.

Meanwhile, Rajasthan Royals captain-cum-coach Shane Warne is set to unleash all of his tricks against his old team Victoria in the inaugural Champions League Twenty20 tournament.

The 10-day competition, originally to be held earlier this year, is to be played in late September and early October in either India or the United Arab Emirates.

Following the immense success of the Indian Premier League, Cricket Australia is confident the new competition will be a hit.

"Obviously each of those four countries have a domestic Twenty20 competition each year, and we'd like to think the winners of each of those competitions can play off on an annual basis," Sutherland said in Melbourne.

Victoria and Western Australia will represent Australia against the best two sides from the domestic competitions of South Africa, England and India in the cash-rich tournament.

ANI