Ever since Twenty20 has made cricket, what was once known as a gentleman's game, said to cater only to a small audience into a mass oriented, entertaining sport, there has been constant debate and discourse about the future of Test and One Day International cricket.
Not surprisingly, cricketers, fans, analysts all over the world reacted in just the way people usually do when something new arrives. There were those who were vehemently opposed it, and then there were those who welcomed it instantly, while there were those who were somewhere in the middle, unsure, deciding instead to wait and see a bit of Twenty20 before they made their call. Two World Cups, IPL and ICL seasons later, many of who were initially in purgatory made their move towards Twenty20 cricket. The success of the recent World Cup brought cricket the much needed enthusiasm and excitement that was missing for a long time, but more importantly it brought in the moolah.
However, the original critics of Twenty20, who are usually the ones who fear the death of test cricket have not been deterred. This debate was recently once again brought to our attention by the MCC World Cricket Committee Meeting at Lords. The meeting ended with an alarming conclusion – Test Cricket is dying. This however is not new at all. Experts and former players have been talking about the decline in quality and as a result interest in test cricket for quite some time now. One of the main reasons which was cited was the growing gap between Australia and the rest of the world resulting in one sided matches. Another reason was the decline of once strong test sides like Pakistan and West Indies, and the sub standard performances of minnows Bangladesh and Zimbabwe. These are all cricketing issues that could be worked up. Australia is no longer unbeatable with Warne and McGrath gone, and the recent successes of India and South Africa against the World Champions have definitely improved the state of affairs. Pakistan and West Indies have a lot of internal issues which are behind the decline in their standard of cricket which one hopes is a temporary affair and will be resolved soon. Bangladesh and Zimbabwe, unfortunately have not shown any signs of improvement, and in the opinion of many experts, do not deserve to play at the highest level. This may be true.
However, the meeting concluded that the most dangerous threat posed to test cricket comes not from cricketing issues but the roaring success of Twenty20 leagues such as the IPL, Twenty20 World Cups, and the individual financial benefit for cricketers, which might result in pre mature retirements. Recently, the cricketing world got a shock when West Indies captain Chris Gayle unapologetically stated that Twenty20 is more enjoyable and Test cricket and is the future.
In order to revitalise the game of Test Cricket, a World Test Championship was proposed. This is not the first time this idea was put forward, for back in 1999, Jagmohan Dalmiya, then the President of ICC, worked hard to introduce such a Championship to no avail. He was however, successful in having the first Asian Test Championship, which has been played twice so far but has not been the success it was expected to be. The World Test Championship, according to many, including Rahul Dravid and Steve Waugh, would be successful and incorporate the much needed competitiveness and “something to play for”.
From now onward, whether test cricket will die or not depends not on the popularity of Twenty20 cricket but on the way the administrative bodies, mainly ICC treat test cricket and work on its future.
Let us face some facts. Test Cricket has never been a major crowd puller outside of England, Australia and to a certain extent South Africa. Despite the constant talk of cricket being a religion in the Indian subcontinent, it has always been the shorter version of the game, the ODIs which were the major draw. Therefore, it would be immature to expect test cricket to attract crowds now suddenly, especially with the advent of IPL in India.
On the other hand, ICC along with the respective bodies of Pakistan and Bangladesh need to seriously look into their first class cricket and ways to improve the state. Pakistan’s descent over the last few years has been most striking. The state and quality of the pitches, the standard of the first class league and the quality of the batsmen Pakistan have been producing over the last 2-3 years have all been diminishing. Test cricket there is no longer a contest between bat and ball but a contest between the stamina of the two batting sides – who can bat longer. It is no wonder then that Pakistan have failed to win a test match in Australia for over a decade now, and have lost test series in England and South Africa.
If we can look back at test cricket’s golden age in the 70s and 80s, we learn that quality and standard of test cricket had very little to do with number of test playing nations.
I do not think that the popularity of Twenty20 will translate in more test playing nations nor is it desirable. Twenty20 is necessary to keep cricket alive, but should not be used to increase the number of test playing nations. World Test Championship will hardly make any difference if the gap between an Australia and a Bangladesh remains this wide. Schemes such as a championship will only prove to be successful if the main administrative body recognizes that all it needs to do is to lessen the gap in the quality of first class cricket between nations. Within a few years we will see much more evenly balanced contests, not only between nations but also between bat and ball and test cricket will once again be a true test of mettle and a World Test Championship will truly be something to look forward to.
