As the international appeal of the T20 format explodes exponentially, it is still considered the “poor cousin” of the sport by many Australian cricket fans.
With Australia being the birthplace of Test cricket, the value of tradition is the strongest commodity for the sport in this country.
T20’s history is about 130 years shorter – a format that was developed by English county administrators looking to cash in on the extended summer sunlight hours in their northern part of the world.
In Australia, it has never been taken seriously. From the first international matches against New Zealand with retro uniforms and nicknames on the playing shirts to the early days of the Big Bash League when NRL star Andrew Johns was parachuted into the NSW team twice as a marketing gimmick.
Over the 19-year history of the BBL, from its state-based origins to franchise switch in 2011, it has constantly been derided as hit-and-giggle cricket and seen as a pale imitation to the IPL as the Indian money-spinner has morphed into a global gargantuan to the point where it is now considered the second-most lucrative sports league in the world after the NFL.
Steve Smith plays a shot at Thiruvananthapuram. (Photo by Pankaj Nangia/Getty Images)
Australia take on the West Indies in a three-match series on home soil over the next week before heading to New Zealand for another trifecta of T20s.
But if you asked many Australian fans if they would prefer a sixth Test on the summer schedule instead of the T20s, the only question would be whether Manuka or Hobart gets the extra red-ball fixture.
Granted, the Windies aren’t the crowd-pullers that they were in their halcyon days or even a decade ago when Chris Gayle was bringing fans through the turnstiles with his power hitting.
But they are ranked seventh in the world in T20 cricket and with Andre Russell, Jason Holder and Nicholas Pooran making their first appearances Down Under for the summer, they have much more hope of causing an upset in Hobart, Adelaide or Perth than the ODI no-hopers who were swept 3-0 by Australia.
Even when Australia hosted the T20 World Cup at the start of last summer, it was seen as an entree to the main meal rather than what should be a marquee global event. And that was during a relatively lame bilateral international season when the Windies and a regressing South African side struggled to be competitive.
Australian T20 specialists are viewed with a sense of scepticism, that they are wearing the third, or at best second, most important kind of green and gold.
Someone like Tim David is a big name in India for his IPL exploits but Australian fans seem bemused by his huge reputation when they look at his output.
He’s had some explosive innings in the BBL but often he comes and goes quickly without making much of an impact.
It’s the nature of his role as a middle-order power hitter, basically cricket’s version of baseball’s designated hitter.
When it comes off, it’s spectacular, but more often than not the high-risk strategy of trying to clear the boundary pretty much from ball one can make for some unflattering statistics when viewed in the traditional sense.
Tim David of Australia. (Photo by Matt Roberts/Getty Images)
David has batted 16 times for Australia in T20s. Only twice has he faced more than 24 deliveries, the equivalent of four overs, due mainly to getting out with a couple of red-inkers thrown into the mix.
But he’s passed 30 five times – a decent ratio for the highwire role that he tiptoes along – and even though his average is a modest 24.21 by usual measures, his strike rate of 158.2 makes him a valuable commodity on the T20 circuit.
He will get his chance to hit (or miss) against the Windies and is likely to be a certain selection for the World Cup in the US and Caribbean in June.
David Warner is also back in the Australian camp after jetting back from the UAE where he has been plying his trade for the Dubai Capitals in the International League T20 competition.
Like David, “Davey” can be hit and miss in T20 cricket – he strung together a run of low scores in the UAE (his highest score was just 42 in eight hits) but he is highly unlikely to be squeezed out of the selection picture leading into his international cricket swansong at the World Cup.
Steve Smith, who will skip this three-match series but return for the clashes with the Black Caps, is the established Australian player under the most pressure to make the World Cup squad with former skipper Aaron Finch saying on current form, the Test vice-captain does not deserve to be in Australia’s T20 starting XI.
Andrew Johns playing for the cricket version of the New South Wales Blues in 2007. (Photo by Corey Davis/Getty Images)
Perhaps one of the main reasons Australian fans haven’t embraced the shortest format as much as other countries is because their men’s team plays T20s a lot less than the likes of India.
And when they do, it’s often a second-string side because multi-format household names like Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Smith and Travis Head are resting, as is the case for this Windies series.
The T20 format has proven to be the solution to cricket’s convoluted pathway to the Olympics and it will be the vehicle that will grow the sport across the globe.
Even though traditional countries like South Africa and the West Indies seem to be diverting their resources to the short format as it’s more financially lucrative, Australia, it seems, will happily remain a bastion for Test cricket.
And who says us Aussies don’t have a taste for the finer things in life?
Peter
Roar Rookie
Good for them. I don’t suppose a vast number of those so called supporters actually know what they agree or don’t agree with until they are told what is good for them. I hope they love it because I certainly don’t and I hate that it has cannibalised a game that for over a hundred years was a cultural touchstone. I can bet you one thing. This gimmick for that is all it is, won’t endure for half as long. I guess as the saying goes; there is no accounting for taste or lack there of.
Ad Tastic
Roar Rookie
The vast majority of cricket fans on the planet don't agree with you. There's a reason all the money is in T20 and Australians should get used to that fact.
Peter
Roar Rookie
That's great !! Hopefully it crashes and burns from here or maybe the geniuses at CA could make it a 5 over contest instead.
Peter
Roar Rookie
In America there is a dedicated channel for everything. So what ? Why, should I care about growing the game. I care about as much about growing T20 cricket as I do about population growth. Both are out of control and bad for the planet as far as I can see. One is as draining as the other. I want my entertainment to be uplifting not sink me in a sea of drudgery and banal futility. Test Cricket at its best does that. T20 for me, simply does not. If people are drip fed the idea that T20 cricket is life enhancing and they buy into that dream then that is there concern not mine,
Peter
Roar Rookie
Exactly, It’s a cash grab !! Why should I care about T20 cricket ? It is like reading a cartoon compared to War and Peace, It is like a 3 min Milli Vanilli pop song as compared to the drama of, say for example, the 1812 overture. It is so one dimensional, so uninterestingly one dimensional that I would rather watch a fly crawling up a wall. T20 is for people with A.D.H.D. I hope Starch or Starc or whatever his $24 million gold carrot name is enjoys his record pay day and thinks altruistically that he is growing the game but in truth, he is only participating in a mindless race to the bottom of the entertainment industry.
Tufanooo
Roar Rookie
Shohei Ohtani on the other hand with his billion dollar contract is a household name in the US, all of central America and a near God in Japan. Baseballers. They rake it in
matth
Roar Guru
Pat Cummins for this IPL has got a tick under $3m for 9 weeks work, so a tick over $300k per week
The Bush
Roar Guru
The SA players aren’t playing in Dubai, they’re playing at home in the SA20. RSA will avoid this issue in the future by not scheduling tests in the window. The Windies do have an issue putting out their best side, I agree, but the players and administrators all say they want test cricket to thrive in the Windies, so for them it seems to be a resourcing issue. Perhaps there’s an element of snobbery to the T20 thing for Australian fans, I’m not sure. I also don’t think this site represents the average cricket fan in this country. I agree that we have to accept the world has moved on and that T20 cricket is here to stay for the foreseeable future. But that doesn’t mean we can’t take step to sure up test cricket for the future. Why be so fatalistic about it? I still don’t see why both can’t exist and if Australian fans prefer one format over the other, I still don’t see that as an issue.
Ad Tastic
Roar Rookie
Put it this way. How many profitable days does say the Gabba get out of test cricket? 3 at max? Big Bash hands them 5 more. Do you think advertisers pay more during the day, or at night during prime time? What about the richest, most successful sports leagues in the world? Are they bilateral international series or are they domestic leagues? And what resembles them most Big Bash or Test cricket. I'm not saying Test cricket isn't sustainable in Australia. But the potential of T20 is far higher
Ad Tastic
Roar Rookie
And yeah, SA just did. So did the WI.
Ad Tastic
Roar Rookie
Why? Because I don’t like the “we need to save test cricket”/ “T20 sucks” articles. To me it comes off as snobbery. Like you said, test cricket is fine in Australia. If other countries don’t wanna play it they don’t wanna play it. We cant force them to like what we like. T20 allows the 2nd tier nations to support a test team. I don’t see the point of turning up our noses at it. The players don’t turn their nose up at it. The rest of the world don’t turn their nose up at it. I just think Australian cricket fans are stuck in their ways and stamping their feet at a change that is a foregone conclusion. What I think we should do is accept the world as it is, not how we wish it would be, and move forward on that basis.
The Bush
Roar Guru
But they don’t, so it’s not a problem. Dunno why you’re so hostile about this, do you not like test cricket? Why?
Ad Tastic
Roar Rookie
Nice job burying your head in the sand. I'm sure NZ or SA are happy playing an extra test. Let's see if their players turn up to it if it conflicts with the Dubai T20 international.
The Bush
Roar Guru
Why, other countries are keen to play tests too. One India venue just had their highest test attendance ever; https://telanganatoday.com/hca-smashes-record-32000-fans-flock-uppal-stadium-for-highest-test-match-attendance India even upped their test numbers for this FTP. New Zealand also added another test to their next tour of Aus to make it a four test series. The young Windies bowler just returned home to a hero’s welcome in Guyana for what he did in a test. Sounds like lots of interest. You might not like it and there aren’t any billionaires involved, but stil seems successful enough. There’s room enough for both formats, the article was simply talking about what Australian fans seem to prefer
Ad Tastic
Roar Rookie
Great, we can play England every year.
josh
Roar Rookie
That's YOUR metric and wrong. Leagues are measured by their revenue alone.
josh
Roar Rookie
Old mate here, no clue; disregard.
josh
Roar Rookie
I'm reminded of the Simpson's meme involving Principal Skinner, "No it's the children who are wrong"
kingplaymaker
Roar Guru
This is a good article, but it's so encircled by a deluge of videos (under 19 run out...) and short news reports that it seems as if it hasn't been seen. As for the point of article itself: true, and test cricket needs to muster a full blown assault on T20 while some people still remember it .
ColinT
Roar Rookie
Except that test cricket in Australia does sell tickets, it does sell pay tv subscriptions and it does attract advertisers. The bean counters you mention need to learn how to count beans.