After an astonishing climax to last week’s second, and regrettably final, Test between South Africa and Australia at the Wanderers, and an equally enthralling finale to the drawn Test match between India and the West Indies, a common and frankly unsettling debate has once again bubbled to the surface: is Test cricket really dying? On the evidence of that historic day in Johannesburg or those final moments in Mumbai certainly not, but aside from these extraordinary, yet increasingly rare, moments of clarity in which the future of Test cricket looks safely intact, the situation is otherwise rather more uncertain.
Exposure
One thing that perhaps all cricket fans and commentators can agree on is that there is too much cricket. As the only major Test playing nation in the northern hemisphere it is perhaps an issue more familiar to those who follow English cricket, but with the influx of the unnecessarily long IPL and a multitude of television commitments to adhere to it is a concern for cricket the world over. Most saddening is that Test cricket suffers more than most.
What people fail to realise is that Test cricket is completely and utterly unique from all other forms of cricket. The skills shown in a Twenty20 are not likely to offer much in a Test match, and whilst the 50 over game mirrors Test match batting more adequately, the defensive and restrictive nature of bowling often found in a one day game does little to prepare a bowler for the rigours of a five day match.
"We do play too much cricket and if something had to give my choice would be 50-over cricket, or make it 40-over cricket or something.” Graeme Swann
A greater focus on limited overs cricket does almost nothing to support Test cricket and its increasing presence on the world stage may well be slowly bringing the game’s legendary format to its knees. Knocking 40 off 30 balls or bowling ten overs in a day is so far removed from the intensity of Test cricket that it is no surprise that interest in the game appears to have waned. Players regularly turn up undercooked and often cannot complete a Test match because they’re exposure to ‘tough’ cricket has been so infrequent.
For cricket as a sport to succeed and remain an entertaining and enthralling battle between bat and ball Test cricket must remain at the helm. Test cricket serves as the benchmark for all other cricketing ventures. It teaches bowlers to work out their opponents, how to bowl aggressively and to savour an opponent’s wicket. It tests a batsman’s technique, temperament and ability to protect their wicket at all times. These are treasured and essential skills in cricket; skills that if Test cricket was to lose its authority would soon find themselves absent from the game and would ultimately destroy the very fabric of the sport.
Competition
In order for Test cricket to reclaim its rightful place at the top of the sport it must more than anything else remain competitive. This does not necessarily mean ensuring a result after five days, a draw is often the fairest outcome and saving a Test match can be riveting viewing, but ensuring that along the way there is an even and exciting battle between bat and ball and that ultimately those players who step out on the field are tested.
One obvious tweak is to produce more interesting wickets. Clearly the surface must be safe and ideally last four or five days, but watching batsmen (usually Indian’s in India) churn out scores of 500 plus every innings, bagging a century each in the process, is just plain boring. Cricket’s old boys are forever harping on about a lack of fast bowling talent and genuine world class wicket takers, yet whilst we do not wish to gift bowler’s wickets they don’t deserve, one reason for such complaints may not be simply a lack of talent but rather the sheer volume of cricket and the unresponsive surfaces on which it is played.
"In the English summer the pitches had a little bit in them for the bowlers but if you bat well enough you can score big runs which we did. Organisers are going to want five days of cricket for the gate receipts but at the same time people want to see exciting cricket so the pitches need to be result pitches." James Anderson
Crucially competitive wickets attract that rare breed of fan – the neutral. Sure any England fan doesn’t mind watching the Aussies loose by an innings and 50 runs, but to a South African such a one-sided result offers little in the way of unbiased entertainment. Rewind to 2005 and you find a series that encapsulated the entire cricketing community. Why? Because the series was played on a knife edge. So thrilling was the narrative that even non-cricket fans found themselves glued to the television or queuing for miles outside Lords just to get a taste of the action.
What was unique about that series however, and in fact every other series between England and Australia, was its context, something clearly devoid from almost all non-Ashes cricket. Take the English Premier League. Its competitive nature and increasing rivalries between clubs and their fans keeps this multi-million pound industry thriving year after year. Cricket does not have this. The news that the planned Test Championship, that would see the top eight Test playing nations compete against one another in a knockout style competition, is to be postponed until at least 2017 is certainly tragic but its conception alone (which I applaud) suggests something is rotten in Test match cricket.
