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Roar Rookie
Joined October 2010
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Lots of interesting ideas here, many of which I’ve written about myself. I tried to post this yesterday but it went missing, so I’ll remove the links to my blog articles and try again.
On the UDRS: technology is here to stay, but the referral system is clunky and unnecessary. There is no reason why the information presented by hawkeye (and an equivalent for no-balls) couldn’t be presented to the umpire before he made the decision (via a hand-held smart-phone). Faster, easier, and more likely to build trust in the umpiring and confidence in the umpire.
On night tests: the problem with lighting is that it sits above the ball, whereas the fielders lie below and therefore only see the dark side. Brighter lights don’t solve (and can even exacerbate) that problem because it is related to ambient light levels. I’d like to see an attempt to light the ball from its underside, by reflecting lower intensity red light from the boundary edge.
On faster play: I agree with penalizing the fielding side for every over not played at the end of a session (5 runs each, the standard penalty seems appropriate) but for two things: 1) it leaves open the chance for gamesmanship on the part of the batsmen unless they are censured for wasting time (on appeal from the fielding side); 2) there are various legitimate reasons why the over-rate might be slow (an injured batsman, multiple wickets, etc.). To get around both I’d introduce a formal time clock (~105 minutes per session that must be played out, and the overs (35) must be bowled within. The batting side can have four 90 second timeouts glove changes, extra drinks, etc.
On packed stadiums and popularity: I don’t think it is as endangered as made out. A lot of people follow the play (cricinfo broke down in the concluding moments of the recent Mohali test), even if they aren’t always watching it on tv, or attending the game. If the ground is empty, lower the ticket price, particularly on weekdays, and don’t reserve seats. If the price was lower I’d probably go to the ground for parts of most days of a test match.
On good matches: test cricket has few problems selling its marquee series between closely matched sides, but you can’t limit test cricket to four teams. There is great enthusiasm for playing test matches amongst associate nations but both they and the minor test teams need to play matches that mean something to them: a competition that allows them to progress up to a level befitting their talent, with short series between unevenly matched teams, and longer series between well matched sides. The proposed test championship adds nothing in that sense, given games are only decisive if a team is on the verge of qualification (4th or 5th).
How Test cricket can be improved: Part II