Fixture Test cricket 2030 - who will be playing it?

[eltrain]

For the time being, I'm okay with it being in England every year tbh. As others have said, you're giving yourself the best chance of a sellout crowd for a neutral match, and the timing of the cycle works best with the English summer. Would also hate to see an anticlimatic one-sided final on a doctored pitch if it wasn't on neutral territory.

 

[swingdog]

Play the WTC final at the country that finished at the top of the ratings, they have earnt an advantage IMO.

A problem could be ground availability and hence scheduling though.

India prepares pitch for WTC Championship Final:

 

[M Malice]

India prepares pitch for WTC Championship Final:

View attachment 1656342

John Howard would bowl well on that.

 

[HTPunter]

Yeah because the women could hope to make more money if they played on Boxing Day. Get a grip, they had to give out free tickets to fill the G for a World Cup final.

• 405m (~51m pa) India
• 139m (~17m pa) England
• 128m (16m pa) Australia, Bangladesh, NZ, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka, West Indies
• 94m (~12m pa) Zimbabwe
• 40m (~5m pa) Afghanistan & Ireland(became full members 2017 so this may be pro-rata from 2017-23)
• 160m to 93 Associates – this is broken up across two grant systems (tournament & scorecard)

The whole argument is that the countries that make money should subsidise countries that don’t, so they don’t lose players to T20.

So your argument that the women don’t carry themselves is a bit beside the point. As neither do the men’s test nations we’re talking about supporting in this model. * me it’s not hard.

Reality is test cricket isn’t going to prosper from an insular men only attitude. Women are the dollar spenders today in families, you’re halving your audience by alienating them. Other sports that support both would streak ahead.

 

[Seedsfan]

The whole argument is that the countries that make money should subsidise countries that don’t, so they don’t lose players to T20.

So your argument that the women don’t carry themselves is a bit beside the point. As neither do the men’s test nations we’re talking about supporting in this model. * me it’s not hard.

Reality is test cricket isn’t going to prosper from an insular men only attitude. Women are the dollar spenders today in families, you’re halving your audience by alienating them. Other sports that support both would streak ahead.

I never said we should take away any financial support from women’s cricket.

They are professionals and good luck to them but the reality is their income has been subsidised from the men’s game.

If anything the growth in the women’s game shows why we should be looking at a more equitable split of ICC revenue world wide.

 

[Teen Wolf]

I never said we should take away any financial support from women’s cricket.

Hmm...

Well maybe we should stop propping up the women’s team then with profits from the men’s side.

 

[Gough]

Laurence Booth in this year's Wisden's Notes from the Editor.

“Test cricket has become jetsam, tossed overboard to make room for simpler cargo. The national boards have handed the keys to the self-interested few, and lost control of players they nurtured. The Indian franchises have been allowed to take over the house, one T20 knees‑up at a time. Private money calls the shots.

It has been a bewildering act of self-harm … Every nook and cranny is being plugged with schemes that leave entrepreneurs and the players better off, but diminish cricket’s breadth and depth … The sport needs administrators with a broad perspective. England and Australia have a duty to ensure Test cricket doesn’t shrink to the Ashes plus India. A plea for balance and moderation – including an unrapacious IPL, a better spread of bilateral commitments, and the sense that cricket’s big’uns will look after the little’uns – no doubt sounds idealistic. Yet it may be the only way to avoid implosion.”

Jonny Bairstow is inaugural winner of new Wisden Trophy Test award

Jonny Bairstow has been named the inaugural winner of the Wisden Trophy, a new award for the outstanding individual performance in a Test match

www.theguardian.com

 

[Rabish Binney]

In an interview a few years back with Robert Craddock, Mike Coward said that for test cricket to survive then the players need to do more.

And he's 100% correct.

The (majority) of players themselves all say that test cricket is the ultimate and that is the form of the game that they want to play most.

Then, these same players need to pay it the respect it deserves which means playing more first class cricket for their states counties & rep reams. After all, strong first class comps mean better players coming through and those players being more equipped to handle test cricket.

If we take my state (SA) as an example; picture the first game of a shield season, (NSW vs SA). From an SA perspective, we have a young side with not a lot of experience. Imagine guys like Hunt; Drew; McSweeney; Agar; Johnson etc playing against a full strength NSW side (Warner, Smith, Lyon, Hazelwood, Cummins, Starc) etc. This is experience that you cannot manufacture in training etc. To get to your best, you have to play against the best.

Of course, the argument arises that the players need to look after their immediate and future positions and the various 20/20 comps around the world provide the financial rewards accordingly. No one would argue with this

However, I would think that the vast majority of the players paying 20/20 are paid pretty well (in addition those that would have contracts with their Cricket boards i.e. Cricket Australia) , so to miss out on 1 20/20 tournament so they could play more in the first class comps wouldn't overly hurt them financially.

I'm an old fashioned cricket nut who wants to see test cricket survive and thrive. I sincerely hope that it can.

 

[swingdog]

Laurence Booth in this year's Wisden's Notes from the Editor.

Jonny Bairstow is inaugural winner of new Wisden Trophy Test award

Jonny Bairstow has been named the inaugural winner of the Wisden Trophy, a new award for the outstanding individual performance in a Test match

www.theguardian.com

It's what made for interesting reading about the proposed Saudi T20 tournament and the BCCI saying it wouldn't release contracted players. They're not the ones they need to worry about - it's the next ones coming through.

It'll end up with nothing but T20 tournaments run by private players and the boards and ICC will be done.

 

[Zevon]

I can see test and first class cricket going the way of real tennis, which is the forerunner of modern tennis.

Played again by amateurs at a low level with little support and sponsorship.

T20 is a throwback to the early days of cricket: played in one day and with gambling integrated into it.

It will dominate because that’s all India cares about.

As much as it saddens me, I agree. I’ve thought for a while that test cricket is starting to get a real tennis feel to it. Won’t surprise me if one day I’m telling my incredulous great grandchildren of the olden days when we used to play cricket over 5 days.

 

[corbies]

Cricket Australia and much of the cricket following public in this country will diminish Test cricket further outside the Big 3 without even realising it by their want to have the best players playing in the BBL. The recent increase in the BBL salary caps will see BBL franchises offer huge money to Test stars from NZ, Pakistan, SA, WI, SL. NZ is probably the biggest danger from it and given their Test summers are played at the same time as the BBL those players will have to give up playing Test cricket to take on those offers.

CA have decided that if it's not them then it will be the UAET20 or the SAT20 so they might as well try and jump on the gravy train. I don't know if they really have another choice but they're not going to beat the IPL teams in an arms race in the long term so they're also sort of bringing about their own obsolescence.

If you thought Trent Boult signing on to play for Melbourne Green was a good thing then you're cheering on the franchise model over Test cricket. And if you're okay with it, the natural conclusion is you have to be okay when Australian Test players do the same when eventually the 12 month IPL contract comes out.

 

[Teen Wolf]

England and Australia do not have a duty to ensure Tests are played by more than three nations. They have a duty to make cricket more accessible.

Whether New Zealand and the West Indies can compete in Tests for the next 7 years or 70 years will have little impact on cricket's worldwide popularity. Countries like America and Brazil becoming competitive in T20Is is going to be far more important.

One's own personal preference for Tests is irrelevant.

 

[corbies]

I wrote that from my own personal preference.

 

[Teen Wolf]

I wrote that from my own personal preference.

You didn't write "England and Australia have a duty to ensure Test cricket doesn’t shrink to the Ashes plus India." That was Lawrence Booth, pulling something out his arse.

 

[swingdog]

England and Australia do not have a duty to ensure Tests are played by more than three nations. They have a duty to make cricket more accessible.

Whether New Zealand and the West Indies can compete in Tests for the next 7 years or 70 years will have little impact on cricket's worldwide popularity. Countries like America and Brazil becoming competitive in T20Is is going to be far more important.

One's own personal preference for Tests is irrelevant.

I know it’s a dream of cricket to conquer America but it’s never going to happen.

Why would you take up T20 when baseball is already a better sport?

 

[Teen Wolf]

I know it’s a dream of cricket to conquer America but it’s never going to happen.

Why would you take up T20 when baseball is already a better sport?

America is a big country, and not everybody likes the taste of apple pie.

Nobody's talking about conquering, that's just in your special head.

 

[Around the Wicket]

Cricket should just be happy with the countries they have, majority suck as it is.

Good sides
Australia
England
India

Middle tier sides
NZ
South Africa

Crap sides
Sri Lanka
Pakistan
Bangladesh
Windies

Woeful sides
Afghanistan
Ireland
Zimbabwe

 

[swingdog]

America is a big country, and not everybody likes the taste of apple pie.

Nobody's talking about conquering, that's just in your special head.

You want to calm the farm with the unnecessary insults?

 

[t_94]

You want to calm the farm with the unnecessary insults?

I suspect not as they are a tosser with a superiority complex (god knows why).

 

[Teen Wolf]

You want to calm the farm with the unnecessary insults?

It's actually everybody else's intelligence being insulted with your deliberate misinterpretations, a technique you've employed in two consecutive responses now.

"Special" = wonderfully unique. I would never insult somebody's intelligence.

I suspect not as they are a tosser with a superiority complex (god knows why).

The superiority complex belongs to those who deride the value of T20 cricket.

Nobody has managed to explain why it's important to play Test cricket in nations which aren't interested in adequately supporting it, after 100+ years of opportunity.

Now these nations are benefitting more from the popularity of T20s, and the expectation is CA and the ECB should tell them "stop, you peasants are doing cricket all wrong!"

 

[t_94]

It's actually everybody else's intelligence being insulted with your deliberate misinterpretations, a technique you've employed in two consecutive responses now.

"Special" = wonderfully unique. I would never insult somebody's intelligence.


The superiority complex belongs to those who deride the value of T20 cricket.

Nobody has managed to explain why it's important to play Test cricket in nations which aren't interested in adequately supporting it, after 100+ years of opportunity.

Now these nations are benefitting more from the popularity of T20s, and the expectation is CA and the ECB should tell them "stop, you peasants are doing cricket all wrong!"

Because it’s the most difficult format of the game to master by far. A white cricket ball does not move off the straight after about 6 overs. A bowler could be bowling the spell of their life, yet cannot bowl more than 4 overs in a spell. 2 of many legitimate examples as to why the longest form of the game should be preserved.

I don’t hate T20 cricket but some people want variation to the bland t20 circuit in which the only thing that changes is the sponsor on the front of the playing shirt.

If those nations had been given fair go by the ICC and by extension, the larger nation boards - including those cretins you idolize at Cricket Australia - then I’d bet they’d show a great deal more interest in continuing to pursue red ball cricket.

The 100 years of opportunity reference is utter rubbish like the rest of your posts.

 

[Teen Wolf]

Because it’s the most difficult format of the game to master by far. A white cricket ball does not move off the straight after about 6 overs. A bowler could be bowling the spell of their life, yet cannot bowl more than 4 overs in a spell. 2 of many legitimate examples as to why the longest form of the game should be preserved.

I don’t hate T20 cricket but some people want variation to the bland t20 circuit in which the only thing that changes is the sponsor on the front of mercenaries playing shirt.

If those nations had been given fair go by the ICC and by extension, the larger nation boards - including those cretins you idolize at Cricket Australia - then I’d bet they’d show a great deal more interest in continuing to pursue red ball cricket.

The 100 years of opportunity reference is utter rubbish like the rest of your posts.

That's why you prefer Test cricket. Doesn't answer why people in New Zealand and Jamaica should give a s**t.

Without the boogie monsters at CA, Test cricket would be dead. I could give a comprehensive rundown of the last 100 years to explain that, but it would definitely be too hard for you to understand.

 

[happy_eagle]

Pietersen seems to think that domestic T20 leagues will be the future of the sport.
For countries that don't care about Test cricket it makes sense. ODI and T20I series seem rather pointless these days, and are often overshadowed by whatever T20 leagues are on at the time.

 

[revo333]

England, Australia and maybe India. The rest of the world will be in T20 domestic competitions... It's a shame, but cricket has done this to itself.

Discussion came up at work recently and this is spot on I reckon in terms of top quality test cricket, India are no certainty to still be playing on a test level with Australia and England.

Archers contract is the tipping point and the best players from the other test nations will be on Yearly T20 contracts.

At worse Australia and England will still play the ashes every 2 years, I would be gobsmacked if the Ashes ends up disappearing entirely while I'm still alive although the grade cricket podcast is calling this years ashes series the last ever.

 

[revo333]

Cricket administration is so backwards when you compare it to other codes, basically no willingness in general to grow the game by most administrators, want to contract the game further and further. It’s an incredibly short term mindset, as if cricket just became T20 franchise leagues, who would actually be passionate about it?

So are local cricket competitions that still persist with 2 day 80 over cricket.