For the umpteenth time since their elevation to Test status, Bangladesh go into a Test match no-hopers.  In the decade or so they have played Test cricket, they have been uniformly miserable.  This begs the question, why are Bangladesh permitted to play Test cricket, but sides with greater potential, such as Ireland and Zimbabwe at present  and Kenya in the past not given the chance?

In a day and age when Test cricket must compete with Twenty20 cricket for viewership and sponsorship,  Test matches must be seen to be exciting battles between roughly evenly matched sides.  The current Test series between the English Lions and the Bangladeshi Tigers is equivalent to putting a 500 pound African feline in the same cage as a 25 pound pussy cat..  The result is likely to be as predictable, and about as absorbing to watch.

The solution is to restrict Test cricket to the top 8 teams in the world and have the bottom ranking Test team being relegated to non-Test status for a short 2 year period, while the top non-Test team is elevated to Test status.  But no team should be able to hold on to their Test status for year after year without earning it. 

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