Trisha Ghosal, Manchester
If cricket is serious about narrowing the gulf between the game’s powerhouses and its associate nations, Test Twenty could become far more than a novelty. It could become a bridge.
The format, set to make its competitive debut through the Junior Test Twenty Championship, is cricket’s latest experiment: a one-day, four-innings game in which each side bats twice for 20 overs. In effect, it tries to marry the tactical depth of Test cricket with the urgency and accessibility of T20s. There can be wins, losses, ties and even draws, with first-innings scores carrying into the second innings and a follow-on also possible. It is, in many ways, “middle-form” cricket, longer than a T20, shorter than a Test, and designed to reward adaptability as much as flair.
That is precisely why it could matter for associate cricket.
The ongoing Women’s T20 World Cup has once again shown that teams such as Scotland, Ireland and the Netherlands are no longer mere participants making up the numbers. They may not always have the points to show for their efforts, but they have been competitive, organised and increasingly fearless. The skill gap is still there, but it is no longer unbridgeable. What these teams need now is not just hope, but a structure that accelerates development.
Test Twenty can help provide that. For associate nations, the biggest challenge is not talent; it is depth. Many players are still not full-time professionals. Squads often rely heavily on a core group and, once injuries, loss of form or scheduling pressures hit, the drop-off is steep. A format like Test Twenty could become a valuable development tool because it demands more than one-dimensional T20 skills. Players would need to bat in different match situations, bowl across multiple phases, and think through momentum shifts over four innings rather than one. That is a richer education than a standard 20-over game.
And that matters for the bench. Young players coming through associate systems would not just be learning how to survive in a T20 shootout; they would be learning how to build an innings, recover from failure in a first dig, and stay tactically switched on across a longer contest. In short, they would be developing into fuller cricketers.
Associate nations have already shown they can compete. What they need now is sustained match practice, stronger pipelines and formats that develop rounded players rather than specialists. If used well, Test Twenty could be exactly that, not a gimmick, but a genuine growth vehicle for cricket’s emerging nations.
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