In the past ten years, T20 has taken the game by storm, Test cricket viewership has decreased, players are prioritising the shortest format, and with no quality action, Test have become increasingly predictable.
Yet with limited-over specialists being brought into Test sides, the longest format has become more interesting than ever.
Scoring rates and wicket-taking abilities have gone up, neutral pitches are being prepared and, most importantly, even low-scoring matches have become exciting to watch.
Regarding the pitches, the home side always has an advantage, but we’re forgetting that this is the 21st century and we have technology. Touring teams can simulate conditions to prepare their players, seeing them coming out victorious more frequently.
This means there is a growing sense of uncertainty as to what will happen in the next game.
Confidence plays a colossal role in cricket and if you’ve performed well in one game, you’re ought to perform well in the next one too. And if you perform well, the whole team does well because after seeing someone do well, others want to do it too.
Let’s take the Indian tour of South Africa and England as examples. No one expected that they would have to wait until the fifth day to get a result that no one could have predicted, because the pendulum was swinging hard in each side’s favour. The matches were low-scoring and close, which made it fun to watch.
The swinging conditions in England, the bouncy tracks and hostile crowds in Australia, and the turning tracks in India more often than not produce some of the best matches. South Africa has been producing some great matches as well, which engages viewers.
Pace bowlers have been fast, which is mainly responsible for the growing contest between bat and ball, although the tweakers have been spinning the batsmen around their heads! Fielding has gone to the next level, with blinders being taken, dollies being dropped, and then the fielders striking back in the next over.
Test cricket has got a new lease of life and the conditions are ripe to witness some great encounters.
Build your own fantasy cricket team and put it to the test with Draftstars daily fantasy competitions. Pick your match, pick your team and watch the points roll in to take out cash prizes on each match. What are you really gambling with? Set a deposit limit.
While a premature retirement isn’t the solution, he or England want, he may be forced into it if he can’t maintain a long run of matches.
Check out some of the short-arm pull shots from Rocky Flintoff!
Harshal Patel was not a happy man!
David Lord has been remembered as an icon of Australian sports journalism following his death, aged 84. The renowned writer and broadcaster was an…
Sign the man up for a contract next season!
A brutal century by Travis Head has blasted Sunrisers Hyderabad back into the Indian Premier League play-off places in another match for bowlers to…
