Brearley and Waugh Warn That Ipl May Crowd Out Test Cricket

The MCC, cricket's ancient ruler, has made a plea that Test matches should survive as the pinnacle of the game despite the rapid expansion of highly popular Twenty20 competitions. The organization's world cricket committee - featuring illustrious former players such as Geoff Boycott, Mike Brearley and Steve Waugh - has proposed confining sanctioned events such as the Indian Premier League to two three-week windows.

"Players should have the opportunity to represent their country whilst being able to share in the benefits provided by participation in tournaments such as the Indian Premier League," the committee said in a statement released yesterday. "The committee believes that Test cricket is the pinnacle of the game. The committee accepts that there is a place for the IPL but that the introduction of this tournament has brought to the fore the issue of premature retirement from the international game."

The MCC is still the custodian of the game's laws. Its world cricket committee was formed in 2006 and meets twice a year. It has no executive powers but might be described as the game's conscience. "We don't want to rule the world," said its chairman, the former England captain Tony Lewis. "We're only concerned with two things, cricketers and cricketers. This is our third year now and I can feel the strength gather all the time.

"We are responding to a letter we received from Malcolm Speed [the former chief executive of the International Cricket Council] who said that the MCC, the custodians of the laws, needed to be more robust with how we did things."

The world cricket committee also hopes to persuade the ICC on a number of other issues. "It is most important that we maintain the equilibrium between bat and ball," said Lewis. Areas to be investigated further include the weight and thickness of bats, the potential for extra stitching on the seam of the ball, the speed of outfields and the positioning of boundary ropes.

The committee also proposed a minimum of 15 overs an hour in Test cricket, registering concern over the current average of 13.8 and recommending severe run penalties for time-wasters. "This is unacceptable, particularly for the paying public. While allowances should be made in extraordinary circumstances, the committee feels that time-wasting is prevalent in Test cricket and must be eradicated."