Do you love Test cricket? Really? Surely, you sometimes feel the boredom of engaging with the box for six to seven hours, and continue it for five days, unless it becomes an exciting Test match. Or, do you love ODIs? Bit aggressive and bit sticky at time! Or, you are part of this modern generation, and T20 is your breakfast, lunch and dinner.
But the game is at the tipping point right now. And perhaps, the reality is that most of fans and some respective boards don’t want to be involved in a particular format, and it could be any of those three, but perhaps, they are forced to play this.
The administrations and who ever are associated with the game and its formation, need to look at the reality, which asks the game to go with the economics. Unless they do that soon, it won’t be long before they get the biggest knocking punch on the face. The franchise cricket is ruling the roost at the moment, and without waiting much, the best possible solution will be to cut the volume of the game to keep International cricket intact.
Stop playing meaningless Test matches, no one gets entertained with it
No matter how much one loves Test cricket, there will be a point, when you just don’t want to drag yourself to the ground, or won’t be watching even a Test match. And that’s mostly when two different weights fight among themselves, which mostly results in two day to three-day affairs.
The former cricketers, or whoever can keep their voice sharp and loud, but the real bottom line is that Test cricket will sprint, when played among the top six teams. Otherwise, it will have a lumpy walk. People say, Test cricket will be alive mostly in the big three- India, England and Australia, but the reality is that even if they take care of meaningless Test matches, there won’t be any crowd at all.
The prime and the most recent example of it was the famous ‘Shamar Joseph Gabba Test’, when on the last day when West Indies got a famous victory, after such a long gap in Australia, there was no one in the stands. The stands were almost empty, and that result came on the back of what happened in Adelaide a few days before that special Test.
On the other hand, when one look at the ongoing series between India and England, there has been a big number of crowd in both the first couple of Tests in Hyderabad and Vizag. A big number of fans, of different ages, turn on in the ground for all the eight days of the two Tests. And that’s only because of the entertainment both the teams are delivering on a constant basic, and that’s possible as both the sides are equally capable.
And there was another Test match going on between Sri Lanka and Afghanistan, which just shows the real explanation of meaningless Test matches. The home side, Sri Lanka was far better than Afghanistan, specially at home. The way the Island side batted, and made the opponents bowlers looked average wasn’t making a great advertisement of the game. No doubt, Afghanistan batted a little better in the second innings, but that was for a certain period, and once the set batters were dismissed, the game became widely opened, and ended in SL’s favor with a 10-wicket easy victory.
Once they divide the top six teams, and play Test cricket among them, there will be flight, and no one needs to draw engagement for it. The boards are getting paid from the broadcasters for five-day Tests, and there is no way the broadcasters will be happy with a two- or thee-day Test match. And one also needs to remind themselves, that arranging a Test match takes a lot of money, and the guaranteed fact is some of countries lost many bucks from a Test match, forget about earning.
So, sooner they realize, the better it becomes. And the World Test Championship won’t work at all. There will be a point, for say after a year in the two-year cycle, when teams will realize themselves, that no matter how much they push, they won’t reach the top two spots. So, what will they do then? Play meaningless Test match?
It’s far better if teams understand their own requirements and play around them to keep the money circulated all around.
Decrease the length of ODI cricket, 40-over ODIs seem to be the future
Few players love it, few fans love it, and the lion’s share of the rest don’t give much headache to it unless there is a World Cup around the corner. A most beautiful ODI game is a bit aggressive, or a bit sticky. But the most common phase of the issue is that from the 20th to the 40th over, it gets so boring, and even the players, to an extent, start to flow with the momentum.
Just like it was Stephen Fleming, who perhaps gave the idea of 4-day Test matches, a thought that didn’t get green signal by Nathan Lyon or Virat Kohli, both of who are a big brand ambassador of the format; it was Sachin Tendulkar, who threw the scheme of 40-over ODIs in the mix, with only one new ball, which in a way will get the reverse swing back in the game after 20-overs to give the bowlers some power.
The ODI cricket doesn’t really give much excitement, but the reality is it won’t be scraped out of the formation, because of the world cups and other ICC tournaments happening around the world. And the ICC gets a huge sum of money from it, and it also is a huge feat to win the tournament. People do remind those moments, and players make glorious careers on the back of them.
Ben Stokes came out and said that it won’t want to play ODIs, looking at the amount of cricket is being played. And there are many players who said it openly. The domestic tournaments can keep the ODIs flowing, because for the schools and universities, this is their only longest format.
Remove T20Is, and put more attention on only T20 leagues
T20Is are a sort of a monotonous thing in this world, especially with so many T20 leagues around the world. A few teams do earn some money by arranging those T20Is series, but the bottom line is very simple and straightforward; if there is no bug teams going and playing, the boards aren’t getting much.
Players are being involved in many T20 leagues all around the globe. And if someone suddenly comes and says they don’t want to play for the country, and rather wants to fly around the world, and play various leagues to earn those bucks, the board won’t have much choice in it, because if they go to court on the decision, they would win. Except India, England and Australia, no board can keep their players to themselves with the prize.
And that’s where the ICC, and the boards, with a combined planning needs to think about going with the football set-up, and how that sports allow their players to play leagues in the whole year, besides playing those world cups. Cricket can think of having the same scheme, and teams can start planning for the T20 WCs just six-to-eight months before a tournament.
Scheduling in this part becomes the most valuable thing. When there was Bob Wills Trophy, happening in the middle of October under freezing conditions in England, one could easily sense something was wrong. The recent team that South Africa has sent to New Zealand, gives a proper picture of how SA20 is giving them the cushion of earning money to keep their cricket rolling.
For different teams, the requirement is different, and the string boards have to contribute to other countries. For every economically small every countries, whether it’s West Indies, or Bangladesh, or even South Africa, post covid, their aim is to have more ODIs to keep the money coming, and that will also in a way will keep the format intact.
The 40-over ODIs will bring more fans in the game; meaningless Tests won’t work to keep the format flowing, while the best solution will be to keep on going with various T20 leagues all around the world. And the reality is here; it’s best to put arms around it, or rather get the biggest knocking punch on the face.
Author: That mAd wrIter
Someone who loves how Steve Smith from being Australia's future Shane Warne has become present Don Bradman, gets inspired by Anderson's longevity, gets awed with Kohli's drive and Southee's bowling action. Never gets excited with stats and records, and believes in instincts, and always questions spinners bowling with the new ball.
