Test cricket's decline - part 8034

[Dont be a lemon]

Make no mistake, the Ashes will be huge this year: social media-swamping huge, Fiona Bruce-looking-pleased-on-the-news-huge. England will be captained by the irresistibly stern, man-band handsome Alastair Cook, a reluctant sporting crossover-celebrity in the making. But outside England and Australia it is now a lonely old world for supporters of Test cricket. The fact is, cricket's newer forms are winning this battle. It will be 50 years this coming summer since the first appearance of one-day cricket, 1963's debut season for the old Gillette Cup. In which time English cricket's own invention has become its commercial master. The Indian Premier League, which will stage its sixth edition three months before the Ashes, represents short-form cricket in its most evolved and bullish form. Across India's booming urban centres, aspirational full-house crowds watch what is as much nationalistic crickertainment as hard-edged sport, with Bollywood royalty bestriding the team dugouts, an advertising saturation of alarming proportions (even the six-hit has been replaced in IPL by the "DLF Maximum": DLF is a major sponsor) not to mention the usual inanity of fireworks, music and groin-thrusting podium girls. And if it is all a long way from the managed restraint of Lord's (no jeans, no T-shirts: no corks to be popped before midday) it is also a riotous success. The IPL brand is valued at $4.13bn, stoking the furnace of the BCCI's unmatchable commercial revenues. Little wonder that other nations are drawn to this cricketing gold and that the younger players of the West Indies, New Zealand and Sri Lanka now look to the IPL's frenzied excitements as an ultimate destination and life-changing payday, and that one-day cricket retains its popularity while stadiums on the subcontinent are often pretty much empty for Test matches.

This is perhaps only to be expected. In the wider context, Test match cricket remains a glorious anachronism, its tempo and texture utterly out of kilter with the modern world. If you were to come up with it now, to pitch the idea of a major global sport based around a glacial five-day struggle devoid of noticeable activity for hours on end, you'd be laughed out of the room. Test cricket is neither interactive, celebrity-friendly or geared overtly towards the mass market. It is difficult, remote, gently nuanced and academically meritocratic. Its continued existence sometimes looks like an oversight, or a fluke. With this in mind it is little wonder that Test cricket has for many years been quietly shrinking back towards its keenest strongholds. Test cricket is not about to die out, but its reach is demonstrably reduced. So much so that at times during 2013 England and Australia might start to look a bit like the last two men left on deck, energetically slugging it out while the ship goes down around them, waves lapping the balustrades, gaslights flickering and the band, groggily defiant, giving it one last blast of Waltzing Matilda.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2013/jan/01/test-cricket-ashes-twenty20-ipl

 

[The Speaker]

And yet how many of the Associate nations out there would jump at the chance to play Test cricket?

How many Pakistanis would love to see their team play Test cricket on their own soil again?

 

[DardySingh360]

Blah blah blah the usual wank about tests dying, there is too much T20 and It's beginning to lose its novelty IMHO, IPL crowds are not fantastic, 50 over cricket is the real dying form, an I find it hard to believe any NZ, WI or Sri Lankan would rather play IPL than tests.

 

[Pralaya]

Blah blah blah the usual wank about tests dying, there is too much T20 and It's beginning to lose its novelty IMHO, IPL crowds are not fantastic, 50 over cricket is the real dying form, an I find it hard to believe any NZ, WI or Sri Lankan would rather play IPL than tests.

Tell that to SL and WI - who cancelled a test series to play ODI with India and SL cancelled another test series with SA to play IPL.

Or how the Eden Gardens today is full for the ODI while it was embarrassingly empty during the last two tests played there. Heck, the same ground was completely packed for the post-IPL celebration !

 

[DardySingh360]

Tell that to SL and WI - who cancelled a test series to play ODI with India and SL cancelled another test series with SA to play IPL.

Or how the Eden Gardens today is full for the ODI while it was embarrassingly empty during the last two tests played there. Heck, the same ground was completely packed for the post-IPL celebration !

IIRC the test series were cancelled by the Sri Lankan cricket board due to monetary issues, nothing to do with the players. And Eden gardens wasn't empty for the test series there was about 25-30k there for the first few days, still looks small as its a cavernous stadium

 

[Pralaya]

IIRC the test series were cancelled by the Sri Lankan cricket board due to monetary issues, nothing to do with the players. And Eden gardens wasn't empty for the test series there was about 25-30k there for the first few days, still looks small as its a cavernous stadium

Which basically means that they would play ODIs and IPLs rather than tests - the monetary benefit also plays in it. If it was just monetary issues, SL would not be cancelling two test series, one of which coincided right along with IPL.

Also, Eden Gardens gets pretty much around 60-70k crowd for ODIs and IPL matches. So, relatively, 20k (which is an optimistic figure - realistically it would have been around 15k) is still empty.

 

[BarneyBent]

I think T20s are great for Test cricket. They suck people in with glitz and glamour, and then they see how utterly empty it is compared with Test cricket. It emphasises all that's amazing about Test cricket, while also attracting a stream of potential fans. It's brilliant!

 

[Gough]

I own a pretty decent collection of Wisdens dating back to the 50's and almost annually, Notes From the Editor will ponder in one form or another the question of Test cricket's survival, I'm sure if I could afford older editions they would still be debating the subject. That it is simply the best product cricket has to offer is overlooked so often, and it's this simple fact that should, with some gentle stewardship from the ICC ensure it's continued survival.

 

[Dont be a lemon]

Night Tests would help. Having to start at 9.30am in India is commercially ridiculous.

 

[HPKS]

I used to love test cricket as a young fella but have lost total interest as I don't have school holidays anymore lol. So I would prefer both shorter version because have lot less time to sit in front of the tv.

 

[BACCS]

I know a lot of traditional cricket lovers don't overly love the T20s, but for new people to the game, most really couldn't be bothered watching the 4 or 5 day slog of Tests. A short, sharp, 3 hour game that is usually played when anyone can go, is going to appeal far more to the masses.

It is very hard for people to see all 5 days of a Test match, hence they lose interest quite quickly if not an avid follower of cricket.

I love all 3 forms, but can see why players from countries like NZ would prefer to earn their cash playing domestic T20 tournaments.

One dayers are a bit pointless now though, there is no need for two types of limited overs games.

 

[King Elvis]

When shit teams are involved, no one cares; that's the problem.

 

[Slax]

Blah blah blah the usual wank about tests dying, there is too much T20 and It's beginning to lose its novelty IMHO, IPL crowds are not fantastic, 50 over cricket is the real dying form, an I find it hard to believe any NZ, WI or Sri Lankan would rather play IPL than tests.

Whilst the players from NZ, WI & SL might prefer to play tests, the fact remains that their respective cricket boards are not that flush with cash and the players need the IPL to make a decent income from the game whilst they can, which Aus, England & SA players do not. We forget that the smaller nations have players that struggle to remain fully professional because their income is so low.

 

[Wallaby]

Just for fun, I

I own a pretty decent collection of Wisdens dating back to the 50's and almost annually, Notes From the Editor will ponder in one form or another the question of Test cricket's survival, I'm sure if I could afford older editions they would still be debating the subject. That it is simply the best product cricket has to offer is overlooked so often, and it's this simple fact that should, with some gentle stewardship from the ICC ensure it's continued survival.

Just for fun I pulled out my 1930 Wisden - the oldest I own. It refers to the 1929 season (Eng-SA tests). A few choice quotes:

'The one matter for regret was the fact that the tour did little more than pay expenses'.

'When the Australians tour next season..........County cricket is in sore need of the monies produced by Test Matches, and so they are allowed to dominate the season'.


WE can admire Test Cricket as the noble art - but it always had to pay the bills. But now, maybe we can use T20 to just 'pay the bills'.

 

[Kram]

Admiral Afterworld sure loves to start threads by copying and pasting an article only to then not actually add anything himself.

Test cricket may at times may struggle in some parts of the world but it will always be around to complement the shorter forms as the ultimate test of a player and will still have the big and well followed/attended series between the strong nations.

If there is a format that is potentially in trouble in the long term future it's the 50 over one imo.

 

[DrVanNostrand]

Reports of Test cricket's demise are greatly exaggerated.

England, South Africa and Australia are all strong, but not strong enough to see mismatches every five minutes. Pakistan have changed their bash-and-crash attitude and are rising, ditto West Indies. Crowds in South Africa and West Indies are up massively (West Indies have three home tours this year FFS). Bangaldesh are taking more and more matches to centres outside Dhaka and are getting huge interest. NZ are the same as always, but interest is there. Sri Lanka are getting weaker and always have strong support.

Zimbabwe are shocking, an embarrassment to Test cricket and now only have one Test-quality venue in the country. Throw them out and get Ireland in. Pakistan might as well rename themselves UAE because they aren't moving from there for 20 years.

India are in trouble, and I think everyone can enjoy that.

 

[Rids]

I think people too often erroneously equate crowd numbers with overall interest.

I don't think I am alone in saying that I have been to a lot more Big Bash fixtures then test fixtures over the last few years and I make no apologies for that as it as a very entertaining format, 3 hours suits well in a time-poor society and the format is far more suitable for inviting others that may not follow cricket quite as closely as me. However, I have far more passion about what is happening in test cricket. I might not watch every ball (let's face it that's unrealistic) but I'll always have the website up to follow the scores, catch the highlights and I certainly care far more about the result of Australia in a test match than in a 20:20 (even though I'm more likely to attend the 20:20).

I am sure I am not alone in this approach and I have as much interest in test cricket as ever.

PS - 20:20 is a much bigger threat to ODI in my opinion and that format I believe will die out over time.

 

[sherb]

I suspect Test cricket will be a lot harder to kill off than some people think.

 

[Stig O'Hara]

I suspect Test cricket will be a lot harder to kill off than some people think.

Yes indeed, England were so bad 100 years ago they burnt the bails and produced a Memorial notice.

 

[damochandler]

test cricket is here to stay.

that windies and sri lankan series really was cancelled because the sri lankan cricket board is broke from the world cup

 

[Drugs Are Bad Mackay?]

What is unknown is whether the 'new crowd' that has been attracted to T20 cricket will gravitate to test cricket once they gain more of an understanding and appreciation for the game, and want more. You play checkers before you play chess.

For the oldies on here... did WSC have a positive impact on test cricket 5+ years down the track?

 

[Stig O'Hara]

An old Legend from Flinders St.

They were originally called the Best Matches. ie: These will be the Best matches this year.

Test is an old Stereotype/Letterpress error on the hot metal, ran for both editions.

... in glorious Times Roman.

 

[Santana]

India are in trouble, and I think everyone can enjoy that.

Why would everyone enjoy that? Surely if you're looking out for the best interest of Test Cricket you'd hope the Indian cricketing public would again love Test Cricket instead of the shorter forums of the game.

I also wouldn't say we (Australia) are strong at the moment IMO. We're solid, maybe getting there. As for South Africa and England, I'd say they're good but not anything great. There's no denying that the general talent is down than it was say 10/15 years ago and the quality isn't as good anymore. Now is this because of 20/20 or is it just a cycle? I don't know, but Test Cricket has problems right now.

As for Ireland getting Test status, until they can hold onto their talent better they don't really deserve it to be honest.

 

[The Speaker]

As for Ireland getting Test status, until they can hold onto their talent better they don't really deserve it to be honest.

Uh, them not having Test cricket is a pretty big part of them not being able to keep their talent.

Odd comment.

 

[Santana]

Uh, them not having Test cricket is a pretty big part of them not being able to keep their talent.

Odd comment.

They'd still struggle a bit holding onto players with the ECB flashing the prospect of playing in the Ashes in front of them IMO.

Ireland shouldn't be getting test status anytime soon, if ever.