Night Test matches just not cricket
Roar Guru By mactheblack, 20 Dec 2009 The Crowd is a Roar Guru
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- Cricket, ICC, one-day internationals, Test cricket, Twenty20
How horrible a thought that Test cricket may “in the next two years” be played at night. If that’s what the powers that be, as an ICC chief has alluded to, are planning in the future, then all die-hard fans of Test cricket may just as well kiss this form of the game goodbye.
An irresistible greed, entrenched in the financial exploits the shorter smash and grab versions of the game brings to the coffers of the powers-that-be, unions, players, etc seems to have clouded those who administer the game’s way of thinking.
Yes, international cricket needs the money to keep the game viable in the short, medium and long-term. If they can’t pack in the crowds for the Test version these days, then the authorities may in the long run battle to find the sponsors and the television moguls begging for a piece of the action.
Great as the Twenty20 version has been in terms of spectacle and introducing a new market to the game, there are those among us who still yearn for cricket’s flagship, the five-day Test, that is clearly the overall yardstick of a cricketer’s skill and abilities. That is what the game of cricket was built on, that is where it has had its humble beginnings.
That, of course, changed when Kerry Packer, with his own designs on spreading the game and making an extra mint, changed things a bit. As spectacular as what it seemed at that time in the mid 70s, I could still, if I had the means to (in SA I could only keep abreast of world cricket via the newspaper at that time) watch Boycott batting for five days! Rather than watch players in pyjamas scuttling around the field trying to catch a coloured ball.
Today, just as the interest in the 50-over ODI format, borne out of the Packer era, is a bit on the wane as far as the crowds are concerned, and the five-day Test the subject of attention due to dwindling “spectator interest” apparently, one has to lay the blame for the situation at the door of the lackadaisical approach to market the game. If the ICC thinks it’s got a problem with Test cricket, the ODI version is going to present an even bigger problem, if that’s not already the case. Very soon it will only be in a position to market the viability of the Twenty20 version.
Many of us, who despise the fact that there is even a question mark hanging over the future of Test cricket, (or changing to day-night version) have to accept that this present generation do not attach sentiment to the Test version and its history. Mention the three W’s to some youngsters- they’d ask you if that is a chain of supermarkets somewhere, Trueman, would be a clothing store, Haynes and Greenidge a grocer and so on.
Well, we don’t expect this generation to know what the cricketers of this ilk represent to many of us (I am 45, didn’t see much of them, but have read and studied them), but it will be sad if Test cricket becomes lost even on this generation, who are what we call an “instant society” … give it to me and give it to me NOW seems the refrain! In other words, fast and furious and that’s what Twenty20 is to the core market, the new entrants/spectators to the game of cricket, give it to them short, sweet, and simple.
But that’s a lame excuse to use for wanting to change the face of Test cricket by playing games at night. Bigger crowds they say. Let’s wait and see.
Why have the powers to be left Test cricket to get into this situation, and, it’s poor cousin the ODI, drift into the background, while the new kid on the block Twenty20 prospers from a marketing viewpoint?
Pack in the Test cricket crowds, by dropping prices substantially; if there’s any indication prior to a Test match that ticket sales will be low and that the game will only be watched by a man and his dog – bring in the schoolboys and schoolgirls for free .. yes for free .. pack ‘em in, even if the turnstiles take a knock .. but pack ‘em in … please to preserve the version of the game that’s stood the test of time.
We owe it to the Ws, the Graces, Huntes, Sobers’, Fredericks, Marshalls’ Boycotts, Willis’, Lara’, Adcocks, Truemans, Titmus’, Lindwalls, Jenners’, Pollocks, Cheethams, Benauds, Boycotts among others – and of course, the Bradmans of this world. What would he make of all these shenanigans? For heavens sake, I plead, don’t mess this up, just save the game of Test cricket!
The Crowd Says (6) | Page 1 of Comments
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- Cricket, ICC, one-day internationals, Test cricket, Twenty20
December 20th 2009 @ 8:34am
sheek said | December 20th 2009 @ 8:34am | Report comment
Well Mactheblack,
If you don’t like the idea of day/night test matches, there’s always the alternative…..
No test cricket….. Nothing!
This is the brutal reality – change test cricket to fit in better with changing lifestyles & attitudes, or lose it altogether.
Regrettably, nothing remains the same forever.
As they say in the US Marines – adapt, improvise & overcome. And I would add to that – survive.
December 20th 2009 @ 1:29pm
Tom said | December 20th 2009 @ 1:29pm | Report comment
Day/Night Tests will hopefully be a novelty only, with the odd match being played every few series to garner tv audiences and new interest in the long form of the game. Im not sure anyone is suggesting every Test be held at night within 3-5 years. Many venues, particularly on the sub continent, barely have lights capable of lighting good enough to read with, let alone watch a 150km/hr rock hurled at a batsman.
The real issue is not so much whether Tests are played at night (given that decision seems to have already been taken), but rather the praticalities of fairness when it eventually happens. Dew will effect the outfield and the ball, therefore changing the conditions from one innings to the next beyond the normal variables in overcast weather, detoriating pitch etc. And speaking of the ball, despite repeated attempts, the ICC have still not found a suitable ball to be used at night.
The most recent testing of the pink ball showed significant damage after just 12-14 overs and an alternative yellow ball not much better, being deemed unsuitable for use after just 23 overs. If they want night Tests within two years, they will have to find a solution rapidly.
January 8th 2010 @ 9:15am
Highlander said | January 8th 2010 @ 9:15am | Report comment
If the pink ball can be deveoped sufficiently to allow it, it could be extremely beneficial for cricket and build audiences.
Cricket Australia CEO James Sutherland suggested that certain traditional test series like the Ashes would be kept as daytime only games. ECB boss David Morgan said day/night tests might be especially helpful ” in countries with hot conditions and large stadia”, even though it would still be attractive in England. The idea is that England’s small stadia are selling out, but countries with large stadia, like Australia and India, aren’t – the crowds in Australia and TV audiences, decline on weekdays. Weekday test crowds are small, and Day-night cricket could help fix that..
Consider the crowds for the second test in Sydney (source cricinfo). 29,844 on Day 1 Sunday, on a weekend, a good result. Day 2 Monday attracted 21,450, after Pakistan had shown Sydneysiders that the game would be a real contest. Day 3 was over 24K, but Day 4 was 12,371 (why they didn’t play on Saturday the 2nd, I don’t know). Cricinfo did not report Melbourne’s attendances to the last two days of the Boxing Day test (Day 3 was a public holiday), even though the whole period is taken as holidays by many people, but attendances looked much smaller.
On weekdays, D/N tests could allow many more people to attend the second half of a day’s play after they finish work. TV audiences could be boosted signficantly as people will be able to watch games after work. If we host D/N tests against teams like Pakistan and India, it’ll open up a new audience that can watch a whole day’s play during their daytime, rather than play starting at 4am Pakistani/Indian time. Weekend or public holiday games could stay as daytime games.
Another factor that could help test cricket is an FTP that eliminates the randomness of test series and tours, organising tours by region as much as possible from year to year, and staging recripocal tours between region over the course of a calendar year.
December 20th 2009 @ 1:42pm
Dave1 said | December 20th 2009 @ 1:42pm | Report comment
wher they going to play day/nighters at the boxing day test where there are already huge crowds?
Sydney news years test which has big crowds?
December 20th 2009 @ 5:53pm
Ian Whitchurch said | December 20th 2009 @ 5:53pm | Report comment
The issue I have with this is the author doesnt say *why* day-night games are so bad for Test cricket – its just assumed.
December 21st 2009 @ 10:49pm
Brian said | December 21st 2009 @ 10:49pm | Report comment
I agree with Ian, if test cricket is the ultimate test of players abilities, than why shouldn’t it be played at night? Isn’t it just another variable in the conditions?