Test series turmoil as schedule takes a hit
Three-match home showdown to become fewer and far between in old school blow
Lovers of test cricket face a bleak future with four tests per summer likely to become standard in New Zealand from 2019. That’s dependent on an International Cricket Council initiative to run a test championship getting approval in October.
It’s not necessarily locked and loaded that three-test home series will be plonked in a coffin, but the expectation is they will become fewer.
Bangladesh and India are both pencilled in for three-test visits in the 2018-19 and 2019-20 summers, but whether they play out that way remains to be seen.
The West Indies trip here this summer was initially three tests before NZC lopped one off.
It wasn’t a case of an extra ODI or two being put in its place. The decision was taken to reduce the West Indies content.
New Zealand Cricket chief executive David White made it clear a 2-3-3 split (tests, ODIs and T20s) with two incoming series is probably going to become the norm. That’s 32 days of international cricket each summer, spread over two tours.
That would be a blow for the oldest form of the international game, and for fans who have little time for the limited-over formats.
Part of the problem is test cricket in New Zealand is an expensive exercise. This season the four tests will top and tail the international summer. In between, it’s all short form.
“It’s fair to say test match cricket costs, and funding is becoming increasingly challenging, no doubt about that,” White said.
“That’s a reason for having the new test match competition, but also for innovation of things like day/ night tests. They (ICC) want to draw
Test match cricket costs, and funding is becoming increasingly challenging. NZC chief executive David White
more crowds and make viable.”
Slim test pickings will be nothing new in New Zealand. Last summer, there were seven tests at home — two each against Pakistan and Bangladesh and three against South Africa from November to late March — but that was unusual.
In 2015-16, there were four tests at home; that followed two the previous summer, although that was mitigated by co-hosting the World Cup.
There were six in 2009-10, five the previous summer and don’t forget 1997-98 when the only home tests were a brace against Zimbabwe, who were probably in their healthiest state, in terms of quality cricketers, around that time.
The ICC plan is that two tests in every series will count for ranking points. So an Ashes series, or India against Australia, invariably five and four tests respectively every couple of years, will stay the same length but only two of them will have points riding on them.
If that sounds odd, put it down to an attempt by the ICC to make the championship concept work.
Expect a plethora of limited-overs internationals in 2018-19, too.
There are 13 ODIs and 10 T20s in the coming summer. That’s with an eye on the 2019 World Cup, White saying it was designed to give coach Mike Hesson and captain Kane Williamson a lengthy lead-in to get their thinking on World Cup selections in place.
That seems excessive in the coming season, given there will still be about 15 months until the cup from the end of this summer. it more As the details of what New Zealand Cricket’s press release described as an “action-packed summer schedule” rolled forth, the country’s test specialists and their captain Kane Williamson deserved sympathy.
The likes of B J Watling, Neil Wagner, Jeet Raval and Henry Nicholls might be restricted to four chances to showcase their skills this home season — two against the West Indies in December and two against England in March-April.
Unless further bilateral fixtures can be arranged, those tests will be New Zealand’s only action in the longest form for the 18 months between the rained out draw against South Africa at Hamilton in March and a proposed October 2018 tour to play Pakistan in the UAE.
The last time New Zealand played fewer than five tests in the southern hemisphere summer was 2006-07 before the World Cup.
At home it has become the norm to play more than four across the season, even if the first came in 1994-95.
NZC’s decision to opt for limited overs matches is understandable in the current climate. They provide a