As if English cricket's winter of discontent could not get any worse, the International Cricket Council will be making a big announcement today at 1200 British summer time regarding the test cricket status of the England and Wales Cricket Board.
ICC President, Allan Isaac, had hinted that the performance of the England cricket team in all three forms of the game over the last 6 months was not satisfactory and befitting of a test cricket nation, and that the ICC would seriously look at revoking the nation's test cricket status effective immediately.
The removal of England's test cricket status would also mean the removal of their permanent one day and Twenty20 international status.
Former England captain, Michael Vaughan, has said that this is the darkest day for English cricket since they lost to Australia in that seminal series which resulted in the Ashes of course. He also said that in order for English cricket to get back to its glory days, its cricketers would need to stop living like Premier League footballers - Vaughan also criticized the likes of Wayne Rooney and John Terry for the downfall of English cricket.
The departure of England as a test cricket nation would leave the list of test cricket nations at 9, meaning the ICC will definitely appoint a new country to test cricket status - it is likely that nation will be the Netherlands.
ICC Chairman, N Srinivasan, has called for the Dutch to be given test status following their performance in the ICC World Twenty20 in Bangladesh recently. The Dutch shocked the English and almost shocked the South Africans at the tournament, playing some swashbuckling cricket on the way which suggests that they are ready for test cricket.
Srinivasan said that the Dutch fans would definitely add more colour and passion as witnessed at the football World Cup.
The only problem for the Dutch is that they only have one international cricket venue at this time - the VRA Cricket Ground in Amstelveen near Amsterdam which only holds 4,500 spectators. It is a picturesque ground but not quite up to ICC standards.
The KNCB, the governing body of cricket in the Netherlands, has stated that they could possibly turn the Dam Square into a test cricket venue with a drop-in pitch to be used. This would be a popular move as it is not only right in the middle of Amsterdam meaning tons of people can watch the game, it would also help free Amsterdam of those blimin pigeons and tourists taking photos in front of its most famous sights and blocking pedestrian traffic.
Indeed, if they could, the KNCB wanted to put a test cricket venue right in the Red Light District but the ICC said no saying that the venue would not be kosher and up to test standard.
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