In an increasingly T20 dominated world, Test cricket must learn to adapt to keep fans and players interested.
In a cricket world increasingly dominated by T20 leagues and the ECB’s recent proposition of ‘The Hundred’, the onus often switches back onto how test cricket can continue to prosper with such competition. The enthusiasm for test cricket shown in England and Australia can often disguise the real issues that exist within the format and its dwindling support from both players and supporters. The first day of the Durban test in March this year between South Africa and Australia is a case in point, with only 3,957 spectators filling the 25,000-seater stadium. While the first day was a Thursday, gone are the days where those two test match titans would attract vast crowds regardless of the day of the week. Test cricket must find a way to become exciting again.
An increasing issue these days is the predictability that test series bring, and even a staunch test advocate such as myself struggles to retain interest in tours where the outcome is more or less decided before the first ball is bowled. England’s away record since 2012 makes for dismal reading, with 7 victories counteracted by 24 losses. Aside from England, South Africa’s tour of Sri Lanka this year shows the recent overseas struggles, as South Africa made only one score above 126, with both tests were over as a contest before the 3rd day.
While limited overs cricket has continued to grow, test series have slipped into a monotonous daze of home dominance, presenting a lacklustre advert for the game, and the key question is what can be done to counteract it?
Better warm up fixtures
The glaring issue of recent times has been the lack of sufficient match practice on test match tours. While England played 3 warm up games prior to the 4-0 Ashes loss last winter, the distinct lack of quality they came up against was clear, the first game against Western Australia containing only two players with first-class experience. India suffered the same fate in the recent series in England, opting to only play one 3-day fixture against Essex prior to the test series beginning, arriving undercooked and seeing England march into a 2-0 lead.
Increasing the regularity of warm up matches and setting standards for the opposition would undoubtedly play a part in making test cricket less predictable. A side selected for warm up matches should contain first-class cricketers, not a group of uncapped 2nd XI players similar to that laid out prior to the Ashes.
A interesting example is eight years ago prior to England’s 3-1 Ashes victory in Australia, where the contrast to recent series is clear. Not only did England play 4 warm up matches but came up against a strong Australia A team containing players such as Phil Hughes, Usman Khawaja, Callum Ferguson, and even Steve Smith batting at the lowly heights of number 7! Not only does this better prepare sides for the task of an away test series, but gives those in A teams valuable practice should they be called up during the series. If sides are to perform better abroad these sorts of warm up games must return, to at least help break the endless suffering of touring teams.
Scrap the toss
Test cricket’s longest running tradition since the very beginning has come under increasing criticism in recent times. It’s overriding impact on the result has undoubtedly become far too significant, and with test cricket on the wane something needs to change. If the visiting side were allowed to choose whether to bat or bowl not only would it provide a more even contest, but also provide an incentive for home teams to create more competitive pitches. During the Sri Lanka vs. South Africa series mentioned above, Sri Lanka won the toss in both matches, batted first and played South Africa out of the game with the prospect of batting last on a wearing, turning pitch. Giving the away team the choice would at least go some way to levelling the playing field in unfamiliar conditions.
Many former players such as Darren Lehmann and Ricky Ponting have weighed in on the debate against the toss, Lehmann highlighting how no toss would mean ‘host boards have a greater incentive to produce decent pitches that are fair to both sides and the chances are that after five days the better side – rather than the one that has called correctly and thus been able to take advantage of favourable conditions – is the one that will come out on top.’
A proposed scrapping of the toss for the World Test Championship starting next year shows positive signs towards a change, but for the meantime one can only assume should England lose the toss against Sri Lanka on 6thNovember we will likely be on the receiving end of another thrashing on foreign turf. Unfortunately for test cricket, the ICC rejected a proposal to scrap the toss back in May.
Test Championship a glimmer of hope?
The faint glimmer of hope for test cricket perhaps lies in the upcoming test championship slated to begin in July 2019. For the first time, it will provide greater context to otherwise often meaningless test series. For even die-hard fans, losing 4-0 in India as opposed to 2-0 or 3-0 represents a negligible difference, with nothing but ranking points and pride under scrutiny. Providing greater context to every test match and a final at its conclusion will surely create a more exciting aspect of test cricket than simply being number one in the rankings. The attraction of T20 is fans seeing their teams win big competitions such as the IPL or Big Bash, and it’s long overdue that test cricket should follow suit into a more modern league table format.
While test cricket is slowly adapting itself to modern times and the growing threat of T20 with day-night tests and the Test championship, it still represents a huge challenge to create a game that promises greater excitement and unpredictability in the same way. At the very least, changes must be made to stop the current rot of predictable series and dwindling support for the ultimate form of the game to survive. While my opinions of Virat Kohli have often been far from positive, his rejection of The Hundred in an interview with Wisden recently warmed my heart and gave me greater belief that test cricket is far from done yet.
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