at present there is about 10 test playing nations with a couple of nations close to the standard and zimabawie suspended
all the nations are comenwealth countries/ex british empire
in other countries there are good standard of amateur games lead mainly by ex pats from cricketing nations but very little local support mainly due IMHO the lack of a top quailty team/nation to support imagine living in russia,germany,china or the usa
you are never going to get the fans unless they have something to support and you wont get something to support without the fans
IMHO i think that we need 16 test playing teams/nations covering the whole globe and those teams split into 2 divisions so that the top 8 teams play against each other with the lower 8 teams playing each other in a league style over a 2 year period with 1 team going up and 1 down
also each of the lower division teams would get to host 2 test matches(not series) against a higher division team and also play 1 away test match against a top team these would be for experiance and also bring in much needed income
now how would we get enough teams to support such a structure
we go down the west indies route
we get groups of regional based nations all providing players for one test playing "region" players for these nations can still play 1 day games for there nation untill they get promoted to the "regonal side" at which point they play there one day internations for that "region" this would give players and fans something to aim for
at present any UK based player aims to play for england but this doesnt bring the fans in supporting england currently england has welsh and irishmen playing for them but many fans are put off by the name
my suggestion would be that on top of the current nations we would have a "celtic region", "europe", "north america", "south america", "asia"
what are other people opinions
Unfortunately I can't see that ever happening with test cricket, I think test cricket is like having your first beer when your a teenager and is an aquired taste. ODI's might have a small chance in the longer run. They keep having a go at introducing it in north america and tried again with 20/20 last year but didn't set the world alight. The only possibilities there maybe be asia, europe and the celts, but I suspect the teams will just end up filling up with saffies and aussies who have association by some distant relative and no prospects in their own countries, as has happened with ireland etc in this world cup.
As a member of Nottingham CCC and lover of the game I'd love to agree with you more but I'm struggling.
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