Is dual format the future for international cricket?

Could both uniforms be donned on the same day?

As COVID-19 continues to put the cricket season on hold, questions are being raised about how a packed international schedule can be completed, with the West Indies’ tour in June now delayed and no professional cricket until July. One particularly interesting idea floated by Jos Buttler a while ago is playing dual format internationals, whereby England could play a T20 and a test match at the same time in different areas.

Being a test puritan who has often thought T20 Internationals are quite pointless given the amount of franchise T20, the prospect of dual formats has always been in the back of my mind. Australia have already done it twice in 2014 and 2017 with relative success, and the nature of the game today makes it a very viable option for cricket going forward.

Those who have followed cricket over the past couple of decades will recognise the huge changes that have been seen in white ball cricket. Par ODI scores have skyrocketed, T20 leagues litter the calendar, and players possess a far wider skillset that enables them to hit all around the ground. As a result, white ball and red ball cricket has become increasingly polarised in nature, with hugely different skills required to succeed in each format. Just look at Jonny Bairstow’s contrasting fortunes in ODI and test cricket as an illustration.

The reason this white ball evolution is important is how it affects selection. Looking back at an example from 2005, England’s solitary T20 against Australia saw 8 players who played in the Ashes tests line up for England. The NatWest series final side shown here also contained 9, not including Paul Collingwood who played the final Test at The Oval. Contrast that with England’s most recent series against South Africa, where Buttler, Bairstow and Stokes were the only test regulars playing in the final T20. Even England’s World Cup winning team contained only 5 or 6 who would be considered test regulars.

2005 Natwest Final - eerily similar to the Ashes winning team

This increasing disparity between test and white ball sides seemingly opens up ample opportunity for dual formats, with minimal disruption to either format. Some players will of course have to pick and choose formats at different times, but the ever-increasing number of short form specialists provide more than enough depth to provide quality cricket. Alex Hales and Adil Rashid signed white ball only contracts with their county sides in 2018, setting the precedent that more players are likely to follow in the future as the red and white ball games become increasingly dissimilar.

The ECB has continually triggered controversy with its focus on T20 and one day cricket, moving the county championship to May and September to accommodate other more profitable formats, including the newly created ‘Hundred’ that has continued to divide opinion. If the ECB want to maximise revenues, running two international series simultaneously makes sense. What better way to keep fans engaged with international cricket than interspersing a test series with some T20 action? One could watch Sibley and Root grinding out hundreds during the day, and Buttler, Roy and Bairstow teeing off in an evening T20.

The key problem with dual formats is the potential loss of star factor in certain games. How Indian fans react to Virat Kohli not turning up due to test duty would in all likelihood be negative, and some teams such as New Zealand do still have similar Test and T20 XIs. The prospect of teams fielding almost a 2nd XI might not appeal to the viewer as much, but at least it would provide opportunity to up and coming players.

Should dual formats become a reality, we may well see T20 games become something of a feeder for higher honours. David Warner famously made his T20 debut for Australia before even playing a first-class game, illustrating how international experience can help young players improve. Having Stokes, Archer or Bairstow unavailable would present golden opportunities for promising players such as Banton or Sam Hain (currently averaging a staggering 59.78 in List A cricket) to gain high level experience.

It is clear that the idea of dual formats works best with T20s. ODIs still play an integral part in the cricketing calendar, and players would likely be more reluctant to give it up than T20s, which they can play for big money across an enormous array of T20 leagues worldwide anyway. But as ODI cricket continues to morph into an extended T20, it’ll be interesting to see if the two become almost synonymous.

Ex-England coach Trevor Bayliss has previously suggested T20 internationals be scrapped outside of world cup years, and while I am not completely opposed to the idea, it is still an important format for revenue and fan interest. There is no need to spend 10 days of a busy schedule playing a three match T20 series, when a more pragmatic use of T20 cricket can be found. It may well only be temporary after lockdown is lifted, but dual formats could well be considered a key part of crickets future.