By Mina Anand
December 26th 2009 @ 12:16am
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Climatic changes in cricket. Can we weather the Twenty20 storm?
The Copenhagen Summit and its deliberations impacted the globe. Climate change is a serious issue. But there is another ‘shift’ that concerns me, and all cricket lovers. The tectonic movement in the world of cricket is reaching crisis proportions.
No, I am not talking about India reaching the Test summit! That comes as no surprise to this cricket watcher. India has always had great Test players, and the past ten years has seen them grow into a winning unit, at home and abroad.
Pre-1970: an inspiring ‘born for cricket’ chapter in our history, gems surfaced – towering legends, enriching Indian cricket. Post 1970: the ‘Indian’ Ocean threw up more pearls for Wisden. (Not that Wisden is always wise!)
India’s place in the cricketing sun: Sunny Gavaskar set the solar trend with his sunspots – of magnetic activity. The Fab Five, led by the Prince of Kolkata, radiated the true Indian colours. They created the atmosphere of self-belief and aggression with the ability to win overseas, as well. ‘Dada’ had his own style too. No carbon cut of any cricketer!
Now with MSD and his men, we are really warming to the task of global competitors, with Viru and Sachin notching up the ‘non-metric’ tons! Yes, our rivals must be going green.
But what makes me see red is the utter callousness of the powers-that-be who ruthlessly and recklessly seem hell-bent on destroying our tiny cricket planet. No melting hearts there.
My temperature rises when I hear ‘expert analysts’ change position, and talk about the ‘progress’ in cricket – hard-selling ‘cricketainment’, and short-selling Test cricket.
The rich cricketing boards (read the BCCI) are polluting the pristine format of the game, in the quest for ‘developing’ the sport…( read greenbacks). And, as a result of intense midnight burning activity by over-zealous administrators, we are emitting the wrong signals.
I am in constant fear that the current craze for Twenty-20 and fast bucks will change the cricketing map altogether. The irony is that India plays more Twenty-20 games than Test matches. The heedless scheduling will lead to burnouts, and therefore to heated debates, such as: “Are youngsters nowadays more attracted to the CFC? (‘Cricket for Cash’). “Is Test Cricket an endangered species?”
We can’t have the next generation pay for current excesses… nor can we afford to let Test cricket relegate to fossil status.
How does one address the issues? Hold a conference on “How to save Test Matches in a Twenty-20 environment?”
Some ‘authorities’ have come up with a formula to ‘save Test cricket’ – by proposing a three-day ‘Test’ instead, which is ridiculous. It’s like recycling the Twenty-20 game. We want the pure and original version any day…don’t we?
So here’s the ‘Mina Protocol’:
No. No talks – that’s just hot air swirling around.
Just cut to the action, or inaction.
Cuts in Twenty-20s. No cuts in the five-day game. Just let things be. No cutbacks. No ‘flexibility’. Stick to the tried and tested formula of ‘glorious uncertainties’, and….unilaterally increase the number of Test matches by 100 percent – by 2020!
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(23)
Bay35Pablo said | December 28th 2009 @ 8:05pm | Report comment
“The irony is that India plays more Twenty-20 games than Test matches” Um, that’s because ETsts take 5 days and T20 about 3 hours? I think they play more ODIs than Tests too.
“Cuts in Twenty-20s. No cuts in the five-day game.” Cash is king. I think I see what will win out here.
The ICC has to man up and ensure the workload on players doesn’t get heavier, and in fact gets lighter so T20 doesn’t steal them away from Tests like Flintoff for the easier reward. It won’t happen as the Indians have the weight in the ICC now, and are enamoured with the game.
Cricket in in the last 40 years has changed a lot, with ODIs coming in, with proper professionalism. The game will be even more changed over the next 20 years due to T20. We may barely recognise it by 2030.
Dave01 said | December 30th 2009 @ 2:20pm | Report comment
Out side of the World cup Inda only played 5 T20’s in 2009. They played more tests in 2009 (6)
Robert Townshend said | December 29th 2009 @ 12:03am | Report comment
Test cricket is long, intricate and tradition-laden. Certain theorists have concluded that it is at odds with the times and cannot sustain the interest of the wider public. Xbox generation, and all that.
The appearance that test cricket is stupendously popular must never be allowed to intrude on the educated judgements of our choicest theorists. If the boffins and MBAs say we’re slobs incapable of appreciating all that drama and grandeur…then we’re slobs.
It would seem that the hundreds of millions whose hearts race when a Warne bowls to a Lara are secretly playing with their Gameboys.
Jeff Dowsing said | December 29th 2009 @ 7:20am | Report comment
To follow the climatic theme Mina, you seem to be of the Tony Abbot line of thinking whereby you accept the problem but deny the need to take drastic action before we reach the tipping point.
Just under 10,000 watched the 2nd days play between South Africa and England. About the same watched Vic v Qld in a rain affected T20. For every memorable test or ODI there are a dozen that are forgotten as quickly as they’re played. We’ll follow the scores but by and large we’re no longer moved to part with our hard earned or watch more than a fraction of the contest on TV. The boffins who are do not number enough to be of consequence.
Unless Test cricket addresses the inconvenient truth, it is dead in the water. So are ODI’s. I propose there is a merger whereby the best aspects of each are merged into one viable, vibrant product. It is ludicrous to have 3 forms of the game, it is not sustainable for a number of reasons.
Trouble is, the ICC and the heads of the various cricket nations will never get past self interest and a lack of you know what to make the hard calls. A lot like Copenhagen.
Dave01 said | December 30th 2009 @ 2:26pm | Report comment
weve just seen a record crowd for pakistan v Australia in Austrlia, a crowd figure that was almost twice as big as it was ten years ago.
Dave01 said | January 6th 2010 @ 1:32pm | Report comment
Sorry I meant twice as big as it was 20 years ago
Brian said | December 30th 2009 @ 2:06pm | Report comment
Cricket seemed fine for the last 30 years with tests and a quicker made for TV product. Now the TV product has moved on and become 20 overs each instead of 50. All that is required is for ODI to be dispensed with. Why all this bother of fitting in three forms of the game when no-one cares about one of them.
Jeff Dowsing said | December 30th 2009 @ 3:18pm | Report comment
Yes Dave, the crowds for the MCG test were exceptional. We are just one test nation though. By and large, most test matches are poorly attended, even those between better, more competitive teams. As for ODI’s, even those played at the MCG nowadays struggle to get more than 35,000, whereas once you’d regularly get 60,000+. Authorities can either wait until these forms of cricket have no atmosphere, or be proactive and shake things up before its too late.
Dave01 said | January 6th 2010 @ 1:56pm | Report comment
crowd in Mumbai for the world championship decider between sri lanka and india seemed to be pretty big.
Robert Townshend said | December 30th 2009 @ 4:49pm | Report comment
Interest in test cricket is decreasing just as arctic ice is decreasing…
By which I mean: it’s not decreasing.
bever fever said | December 30th 2009 @ 5:51pm | Report comment
I have lost interest in cricket in general but personally would favour a ODI over a 20/20 as at least their is some sort of chance a batsman can structure and play a decent innings.
Whilst i have lost a bit of interest in cricket other people rekindle theirs or even pick it up where their was no interest.
Overall i dont think cricket is any less popular than before.
Our junior cricket club in the northern suburbs of Perth are not taking any more registrations as they are full, the grassroots of the game seem quite healthy.
Dave01 said | December 31st 2009 @ 12:45pm | Report comment
I find I am more interested in cricket than i have ever been.
I have lost interest in a plethora of other sports.
I think cricket is now evn more popular in Australia than it was in Bradmans day.
Mister Football said | December 30th 2009 @ 6:53pm | Report comment
I’ve had a nagging feeling for a long time that the five day format can’t be sustained in the modern era – just for the practical reason that five days is a hell of a long time.
Sure, it’s great that we Melburnians get to have a test start on Boxing Day, making it quite easy to see most of it during these summer holidays – but what about all the other tests?
While the tree day suggestion sounds far too extreme, what about meeting half way at four days? (with some fine tuning of the rules to increase the chances of a result inside four days)
As for 20/20 – are people blind? Have we not noticed the crowds turning up to domestic 20/20 matches?
Surely the day is at hand where we will have our very own national competition – and if the ACB doesn’t do it – you can bet someone like Murdoch will.
Dave01 said | December 31st 2009 @ 12:43pm | Report comment
Test crowds in australia are the higest theyve ever been in 132 years, so modern people must like tests more than they did in the past.
most tests dont last five days.
its the same length as a golf tournament, less than a tennis tournament its shorter than the sydney to hobart. When a grand prix is on its there for four days.
TV and avdvertisers love it because its an add break every five minutes for 30 hours. Tv and advertisers want longer games not shorter ones
Jeff Dowsing said | December 31st 2009 @ 11:02am | Report comment
There kind of is a T20 national comp – the KFC Big Bash. I’d predict that over the next couple seasons the Ford Ranger 50 over comp will contract/disappear and the Big Bash will expand.
True Tah said | January 6th 2010 @ 2:20pm | Report comment
Of course T20 is going to be more popular than the longer forms of the game in India, when you consider the gltiz and glamour of the Indian Premier League and it fits in perfectly well with the Indian character. If you are an Indian cricketer, what are you going to prefer, 5 days in the sun watched by a handful of spectators or a T20 bash, where you are paid millions and get to hang out with goegeous Bollywood starlets?
On top of that, you have Pakistani cricketers saying that T20 is killing test matches.
Personally I prefer test matches, batsmen have to put together a decent innings and bowlers have the opportunity to work out differant strategies on batsmen, but I guess todays generation increasingly suffers from a form of ADD where anything which requires intellect or patience to understand is put in the two hard basket.
tifosi said | January 6th 2010 @ 4:20pm | Report comment
So true, it just seems that people today have little patience for anything.
The reality is today wherever the money is, the players will go. Only Australia and England and maybe Sth Africa are still resisting the trend but the rest of the cricket world is already moving on.
Cricket will be more like Football and Rugby in the Future. Club Cricket most likely the IPL and other 20/20 club cricket will be the main bread winner with internationals being the butter on top.
Dave1 said | January 9th 2010 @ 2:46pm | Report comment
What different form the 1950’s.
http://www.cricinfo.com/magazine/content/story/257489.html
“…..It was in youthful disillusionment with inter-island jealousies that, having already represented Lowerhouse in the Lancashire League, he took the county shilling, thereby foresaking international cricket – a choice and a sacrifice that today seems altogether bizarre, but was made by scores of players at the time, mainly Australians like Somerset’s Bill Alley and Nottinghamshire’s Bruce Dooland, but also South Africans like Syd O’Linn and Stuart Leary at Kent, and West Indians including Ron Headley at Worcestershire and Shirley Griffiths at Warwickshire……..”
Robert Townshend said | January 6th 2010 @ 4:11pm | Report comment
It’s a quarter past five on Wednesday.
Do I need to tell you how I feel about Test Cricket ?
ren said | January 6th 2010 @ 4:51pm | Report comment
how can you not love test cricket after today?
Jeff Dowsing said | January 6th 2010 @ 7:49pm | Report comment
Trouble is, a test like this one just serves to reassure the conservatives that nothing is wrong with the game.
Nevermind the handful of people that showed up at the start of the day’s play.
This was an exceptional, fantastic game. But we need to aim for this being the rule, rather than the exception.
Dave1 said | January 9th 2010 @ 2:44pm | Report comment
Do you say that after the Sydney test, every year?
Jeff Dowsing said | January 11th 2010 @ 10:14pm | Report comment
Test cricket is great for Aussie summer TV schedules, certainly if F-Troop & Gilligans Island as Nine’s back-up programs is anything to go by!
But I’m sure if they could parlay that into a 4 – 10pm prime time product, that drew greater TV audiences in prime time and a bigger crowd buzz (inc key demographics) through longer periods of the match, then CA & Nine would be reaping even bigger rewards and test cricket’s future would be assured.