{"id":74983,"date":"2025-08-17T12:11:07","date_gmt":"2025-08-17T12:11:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/74983\/"},"modified":"2025-08-17T12:11:07","modified_gmt":"2025-08-17T12:11:07","slug":"stop-hoarding-privilege-mitchell-johnson-slams-cricket-australia-ceo-todd-greenbergs-take-on-lesser-tests","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/74983\/","title":{"rendered":"Stop hoarding privilege: Mitchell Johnson slams Cricket Australia CEO Todd Greenberg&#8217;s take on lesser Tests"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Former Australian pacer Mitchell Johnson has criticised Cricket Australia CEO Todd Greenberg\u2019s remarks suggesting that the future of Test cricket lies in reducing the number of nations competing in the format. Greenberg recently argued that Test matches should be limited to the top teams to maintain financial stability and ensure \u201cquality\u201d contests.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.indiatoday.in\/sports\/cricket\/story\/todd-greenberg-cricket-australia-ceo-test-cricket-2770706-2025-08-13\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Greenberg claimed that forcing smaller boards<\/a> to play the five-day format could drive them towards bankruptcy, suggesting that \u201cscarcity in Test cricket is our friend, not our foe.\u201d He pointed to the Ashes as an example of how meaningful rivalries between elite nations remain profitable.<\/p>\n<p>Johnson, however, strongly disagreed, stating that cutting back opportunities for developing nations would damage the very fabric of the game. Writing in his column for the West Australian, he argued that leadership lies in lifting others up rather than shutting them out.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe solution isn\u2019t to scale Test cricket down to three or four rich countries,\u201d Johnson wrote. \u201cIt\u2019s to help the rest grow. Players want it, fans want it \u2014 so why are we making it so hard? What these nations lack isn\u2019t passion, it\u2019s support. And if the ICC and the so-called big three want to protect the future, they need to stop hoarding the privilege and start sharing the responsibility.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He stressed that the meaning of Test cricket is not determined by broadcasting revenue but by national pride. \u201cA Sri Lanka v Pakistan series might not break streaming records, but to the players and fans it means everything. You don\u2019t protect that by cutting it off. You protect it by investing in it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Johnson also highlighted the irony of Test cricket being labelled \u201ctoo expensive,\u201d while money continues to pour into new T20 leagues worldwide. He pointed out that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.indiatoday.in\/sports\/story\/wtc-final-south-africa-vs-australia-aiden-markram-temva-bavuma-2740796-2025-06-14\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">South Africa, the reigning World Test champions<\/a>, do not have a single home Test scheduled this summer, calling it a sign of misplaced priorities.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe money is there \u2014 it\u2019s just being pointed the wrong way,\u201d Johnson wrote. He suggested that a share of revenue from major Test series should be reinvested into grassroots cricket, coaching and infrastructure across nations.<\/p>\n<p>Johnson\u2019s call was clear: Test cricket\u2019s future will not be saved by restricting it to a few. Instead, it requires shared responsibility, fair investment and a commitment to ensuring that all cricketing nations have the opportunity to play the format that remains the ultimate test of skill and character.<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; Ends<\/p>\n<p>Published By: <\/p>\n<p>Amar Panicker<\/p>\n<p>Published On: <\/p>\n<p>Aug 17, 2025<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former Australian pacer Mitchell Johnson has criticised Cricket Australia CEO Todd Greenberg\u2019s remarks suggesting that the future of&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":74984,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[564],"tags":[64,63,740,18587,19912,85,1211,57995,51752],"class_list":["post-74983","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cricket","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-cricket","tag-cricket-australia","tag-mitchell-johnson","tag-sports","tag-test-cricket","tag-test-cricket-future","tag-todd-greenberg"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74983","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=74983"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74983\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/74984"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=74983"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=74983"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=74983"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}