Test cricket is one of sport’s most sacred entities. Since 1877, it has been, in both name and fact, the greatest test of a cricketer or his team. Thus, we must address a couple of facts.
Test cricket is played in white clothing with a red ball. A Test match goes for five days. A day’s play begins in the morning, usually at 10 or 11am, and ends in the early evening, around 5 or 6pm. Within these parameters, Test cricket has gained the love and affection of cricket’s most ardent fans.
While the non-cricketer may think it boring, dull, or overly long, a cricket enthusiast will love it for its complexities and simplicities. They admire the fact that rain can rapidly alter a match situation, or that after five days’ toil and intrigue, the result can come down to a single ball.
While one-day internationals and Twenty20 have their charms and fleeting excitement, they cannot provide the soaring drama of Edgbaston in 2005, or Brisbane in 1960.
Those who saw Tendulkar face Steyn in South Africa a couple of years ago insist upon it as cricket at its finest, a combat between a bat and a ball which was the best the game could produce. Test cricket is suspense. It is a suspense which cannot be replicated in the coloured clothing sideshows.
Simply, one-day and Twenty20 cricket are designed to lure the non-cricketer. The description of the innings break in a Twenty20 as ‘half time’ makes my blood run cold, but it is evidence of a game pitched firmly at football fans seeking summer sporting entertainment.
This is well and good. These are worthy devices for interesting people in cricket for the first time and augmenting the salaries of the game’s finest.
However these varieties must continue to be seen as the means to an end, rather than the end itself. They do not harm so long as they do not infringe upon Tests. Unfortunately, the disappearance of a Test from the schedule of the recent Australia v South Africa series indicates that confusion exists in the minds of administrators.
But then, confusion might not be the right word. The administrators of cricket are launching a very deliberate assault on Test cricket. They are attacking its history, its tradition and its greatest virtues by moves they have proposed, and some they have already taken.
Primary among these is the proposal for day-night tests. James Sutherland of Cricket Australia deserves most of the scorn for this scandalous idea. Cricket is not a circus. Cricket cannot be run for television ratings or gate takings. Pink ball, white ball or orange ball, Test cricket is a game which is played during daylight hours and always has been.
One day games and Twenty20 are more explosive, and perfectly designed for prime time. Test matches slowly unfold over the course of five days. Watching it unfold is the beauty of the game. If we change these basics to attempt to lure the apathetic masses, we risk taking cricket away from the people who have loved it all along.
The corporate point of view needs to be kept out of Test cricket. It is too precious to be left in the hands of people who have their own interests at heart rather than those of the game. The various forms of cricket raise funds in proportion to the rate at which runs are scored. Money men seek to destroy Test cricket because it fails to satiate their desire for quick cash.
But a game’s virtue must not be judged on whether it is ‘financially viable.’ If these toxic terms were abided by, we would have to consider the Sydney Olympic Stadium a greater venue for cricket than the SCG. We would think the renovations which stripped the Adelaide Oval of much of its beauty and charm did not quite go far enough. We would think that the appalling renaming of Bellerieve Oval was simply a ‘modern reality.’
The true reality is that Test cricket, the purest and greatest form of the game, cannot be tampered with by marketers any longer.
We must show these drones that Test cricket is the peak of the game. I urge you to go to a Test match this year. Take in the suspense and tension around the ground. If we do not make ourselves heard now, we will merely be left to enjoy Test cricket while it lasts.
Jack Russell
Roar Guru
In the end, people will vote with their feet. All around the world. If no-one watches T20, the game will die. If it attracts big audiences, both at the ground and on TV, then it will expand. The same principle, but to a lesser extent, applies to test cricket.
Oracle
Guest
Unfortunately, you cannot blame CA for trying to cash in on T20, but what happens if they get it wrong and it doesn't work???? Problem is the ICC is now controlled by T20 and ODI pushing Asian bloc. The Chris Gayle example is right, and highlights what is wrong with T20, as good as it is to watch. Give me Test Cricket anytime. The South Africa fixturing debacle was a disgrace. Three ODI's over 2 weeks, but only 2 Tests........ .
If what 'Russ' says is true - that test cricket is the most profitable format of the game - then this article is even more valid. Why would the head honchos of the cricket world try to alter the test format that is already bringing in surplus funds for any other reason than to exploit such profits and fill their pockets? It would be very interesting to know what percentage of revenue increases that Cricket Australia hopes to receive by changing the game will actually be put back into Australian cricket. Also, as for the funding required to pay players like Chris Gayle who demand a much higher paycheck than most cricketers: I personally would much rather watch a young Aussie cricketer playing for nothing more than pride in his state and to prove himself on the big stage than an international whose passion for playing in a competition taking place in a foreign country seemingly lies in nothing more than a seven figure sum. If the big names want to play elsewhere, let them. It's the young blokes that grew up down the street, round the corner or up the highway that I pay money to watch.
brad
Guest
Why don't they schedule the proper number of tests for the test quality players, then just squeeze in the 20/20 and one dayers anywhere and fill those teams with whoever? A 20/20 game is the same whether it has test players or people who will never be good enough to play test cricket. In fact 20/20 allows non test players an opportunity for fame and fortune that they would otherwise never have. If test cricket had been given priority it would have been easy to fit in another test in South Africa, and the 20/20 would have been no different.
Johnno
Guest
T20 can only survive on tv ratings to to make money, so clearly lots of indians anyway love the IPL or enough fans for it to pay big bucks $$$$ to the players. But many fans don't like the IPL or T20 , but there are clearly enough fans that do like the IPL and that mean $$$$ for the players.
Russ
Guest
Despite what you say, test cricket is actually the most profitable format. It attracts the largest crowds per game, offers the most television hours (though more of T20 and ODI cricket is in prime-time), and generates the most interest (which translates to advertising). The lack of a third test in South Africa was so Australia could play NZ and to fulfil commitments to the CLT20 which Australia part-owns (and earns a lot from). A third test would have needed an extra two weeks (as you can't play 3 back-to-back tests), meaning no ODI or T20s at all. Regardless, cricket does need to make a certain amount of money. Without money, you can't pay players. If players don't get paid something approaching what they can earn elsewhere, they will play elsewhere. Kerry Packer proved that, the ICL proved that, Chris Gayle is proving that. Unless you want test cricket to be the preserve of second-rate amateurs, money matters. And I like the idea of day-night tests because I like the idea of cricket being played when I am not at work.
Talisman
Guest
Yes, good article - but my concern is that the people who run cricket are more interested in money than the game. How do we get a message to the 'money men'? Yesterday, barely into the first session one of those intrusive 'memorabilia' ads was spruiked by Greig during an over - makes me want to scream!!
Sports Writer
Guest
Thankyou. You have perfectly written what many of us cricket lovers have been thinking for many years! Well done