The 2020 Six Nations Test Championship (Hypothetical Again)

Another evening, another wistful piece about cricketing circumstances that don't exist. On this occasion, the catalyst for the piece was watching Brendan Glover and Paul van Meekeren bowling in tandem for the Dutch, both touching 90 miles per hour and thinking "huh, this looks like a Test attack". Both the Dutch and the Scots looked like well-organised, Test-quality teams lately. What is about to follow falls somewhere between highly unlikely and almost impossible due to the prevailing structures that govern Test cricket, as well as the finances of some of the cricket boards involved. However, I ask you all to suspend disbelief for a moment and behold the... 2020 Six Nations Test Cricket Championship Match 1: England vs West Indies at Lord's, London, England - Wed 08 Jul to Sun 12 Jul Match 2: Netherlands vs Scotland at VRA Ground, Amsterdam, Netherlands - Thu 09 Jul to Mon 13 Jul Match 3: Ireland vs Pakistan at Malahide, Dublin, Ireland - Fri 10 Jul to Tue 14 Jul - Match 4: Scotland vs Pakistan at The Grange, Edinburgh, Scotland - Wed 22 Jul to Sun 26 Jul Match 5: England vs Netherlands at Headingley, Leeds, England - Thu 23 Jul to Mon 27 Jul Match 6: Ireland vs West Indies at Malahide, Dublin, Ireland - Fri 24 Jul to Tue 28 Jul - Match 7: Pakistan vs West Indies at Old Trafford, Manchester, England - Wed 05 Aug to Sun 09 Aug Match 8: Netherlands vs Ireland at VRA Ground, Amsterdam, Netherlands - Thu 06 Aug to Mon 10 Aug Match 9: England vs Scotland at Trent Bridge, Nottingham, England - Fri 07 Aug to Tue 11 Aug - Match 10: England vs Pakistan at Edgbaston, Birmingham, England - Wed 19 Aug to Sun 23 Aug Match 11: Ireland vs West Indies at Malahide, Dublin, Ireland - Thu 20 Aug to Mon 24 Aug Match 12: Scotland vs Netherlands at The Grange, Edinburgh, Scotland - Fri 21 Aug to Tue 25 Aug - Match 13: Netherlands vs Pakistan at VRA Ground, Amsterdam, Netherlands - Wed 02 Sep to Sun 06 Sep Match 14: England vs Ireland at The Oval, London, England - Thu 03 Sep to Mon 07 Sep Match 15: Scotland vs West Indies at The Grande, Edinburgh, Scotland - Fri 04 Sep to Tue 08 Sep - Given the importance attached to the big, money-spinning tours by Australia and India, this Six Nations competition would occur every even-numbered year. So for 2022, the competitors would be New Zealand and South Africa. ​ The Wisden Trophy, which would be presented to the winning team of Match One of this hypothetical tournament. And for those clashes which have perpetual trophies attached to them - like the Wisden Trophy between England and the West Indies - then that trophy would still be on the line for the Test match in question. Personally, I think it would be an extremely valuable addition to the international cricketing calendar, but I am not a cricket administrator. Of course it will never happen, and in my opinion that is cricket's loss. If Test rugby can have a tournament-based calendar with the huge physical toll each match takes on its players, then so could Test cricket. submitted by /u/Aislabie [link] [comments]

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