Category Archives: Test cricket in 2020

A Test Championship alone means nothing

Posted on
Reply

The prospect of a Test Championship has come a step closer as part of an extensive restructuring of the international game after the ICC’s chief executive committee (CEC) laid out a set of proposals for five-day and one-day cricket. [..]

The proposed format for Test cricket will have the Future Tours Programme (FTP) consist of a Test league running over four years with the top four teams at the end of each period qualifying for a play-off event.

Test Championship moves a step closer | Cricket News | Global | Cricinfo.com.

I like this move from the ICC, but I don’t think it is good enough.

A championship alone is not going to help Test cricket. More needs to be done.

The next steps should be introducing promotion and relegation in a multi-tier competition structure and granting more countries Test status.

Otherwise, a championship will only add to the elitist character of Test cricket.

A club for the happy few who play to crown the best among them, but have nothing to fear if they don’t perform.

Once your in, they can’t get you out, no matter how bad you are.

Not even Zimbabwe have been permanently stripped from their Test status and will just return to the party next May, which must be nothing but frustrating to Ireland.

However, a Test Championship is a step in the right direction and the ICC are apparently serious in looking to improve Test cricket, which is heartening in itself, because for a while it seemed all cricket administrators cared for was Twenty20.

What do you think? Do you even care for a Test Championship?

Poll: Test cricket, ODI's or Twenty20, what is you favorite form of the game?

Posted on
2

I have said it before, and most other bloggers, journalists and pundits seem to agree on this, Test cricket is the best form of the game. However, as has also been discussed earlier, the success of Twenty20 and a declining interest in Test cricket suggest a lot of people do not agree.

So today, I want to ask you a simple question:

The best form of cricket is?online surveys

Hardly representative, I know, but I am just really curious about how you, reader of this blog, feel about this.

Let me know your choice in the comments.

King Cricket wants your help!

Posted on
Reply

Alex Bowden from King Cricket thinks the main reason for poor Test match crowds is that tickets are too expensive. Not everybody agreed with him in the comments, but Bowden seems convinced prices are too high and has asked his readers to help him gauge the cost of a day at the cricket.

If you go to a match this year, try and keep a rough tally and put it in the comments of this post giving the following information. We’ll make this page accessible from the sidebar when it’s slipped down the page a bit.

Ground: Lord’s, Old Trafford, Edgbaston etc
Match type: Test match, international Twenty20, County Championship etc
Travel: Cost per person
Ticket: Cost per person
Food: Anything you spent at the ground
Drink: What you’re willing to admit you spent at the ground
Miscellaneous: Anything else you may have bought during the day
Total: Cost per person

I am not sure if Bowden has concrete plans on what he wants to do with the information he gathers.

He doesn’t strike me as someone to use his right to petition or something like that, but his is one the best known blogs out there (he also regularly writes for wisdencricketer.com and cricinfo.com) and does seem a bit more serious in his writing these days, so who knows what this might lead to?

But first of all, he needs your input. So if you have been to a game recently – or planning to see one soon – remember to help him out.

Some good ideas from Martin Crowe on how to make Test cricket better

Posted on
4

Martin Crowe, the former captain of New Zealand, thinks the ICC should focus on Test and Twenty20 cricket and give up on the 50 overs game.

Crowe also thinks a Test Championship will give Test cricket a bit more purpose:

We have to get to a point where we are hosting a Test Championship final, and those seven games will become the great focus throughout the course of the year for all the media, the fans and the teams. It also gives all eight teams a chance, over six days, to win that Test match and progress forward.

[...]

At the moment, you have World Cups, Champions Trophies, World Twenty20, the IPL, the Champions League, all these shorter formats are up and running, dominating the landscape, and they all have a meaning and they all crown a champion. But Test cricket, which is the pinnacle, is the purest and the best form of the game, doesn’t have anything.

via Cricinfo.com

Another notable thing is that Crowe mentions six-day Test matches to make a result more likely.

And last but not least, Crowe states the importance of moving the game forward by introducing day-night Test matches:

Test cricket needs a lot more work from the marketing point of view, and that’s where day-night Test cricket must be trialled soon. [...] It won’t suit every country and the conditions in some countries won’t allow it. But I certainly think that in some places it will be wonderful for the local market.

So more than just one of my 5 steps to make Test cricket better. (I never claimed to be original, did I? ;) ) But I do believe a lot could be done to make Test cricket better without changing it beyond recognition and these five are the best ways to do so.

What do you think? What are the best ways to make Test cricket better and what should Test cricket look like in the year 2020?

The cricket ball of the future is orange?!

Posted on
Reply

New balls

Not white, not pink, and not even red – the smart money is on an orange ball becoming essential equipment for use in one-day internationals, day-night games and, possibly, even the first day-night Test match.

via Mail Online.

An orange ball? Wtf, who comes up with something like that? It is just really bad news for the Dutch, now we will have to completely renew our wardrobe for ODI’s and T20′s ..

But on a more serious note; this is a good thing. Remember my 5 steps to make Test cricket better? This is exactly what I meant by point four: Upgrade Test cricket.

An orange ball allowing for day-night Test matches would be a huge improvement for Test cricket, making it easier for people to come and watch a game after work or school.

It is good to see manufacturers, national boards and others involved in this. Sometimes the future of Test cricket doesn’t look so grim at all. :)

The case for a second division in Test cricket (2)

Posted on
Reply

Two weeks ago I made a case for a second (and third) division for Test cricket. Since then, Pakistan have been underlining that argument by utterly underperforming against England.

By doing so, Pakistan are harming Test cricket. Something Andrew Miller of Cricinfo.com agrees on:

But for the good of Test cricket, and even for England’s own long-term benefit, a bit more resistance from Pakistan would not go amiss. While stalemates of the SSC variety are the greatest menace to the game, a fundamental lack of competitivity runs a close second.

via Cricinfo.com

Having more divisions will give teams more to play for, making Test cricket more competitive, which will benefit Test cricket.

If we had a mulit-tier competition structure, Pakistan, in their current form, would be looking at a degradation play-off against second-divisionists Ireland or Afghanistan.

Who would you fancy winning such a play-off?