Test cricket is far from dying... it is flourishing
International Cricket Council (ICC) chair Shashank Manohar was quoted recently saying that “Test cricket is dying”. As a headline-grabber, it did a great job. But it was meant as an “attention-grabber” to a specific audience rather than a shock to the world. In fact, Test cricket has rarely been stronger in the past 15 years.
Manohar was addressing an audience in Bangladesh and his comments in his second language were an attempt to sell the imminent Test Championship to listeners who may have been unaware of why it was being instigated, never mind how it would work.
If he had used the word “struggling” rather than “dying” his assertions would have made more sense.
“The broadcasters’ television ratings are highest for T20…nowadays people don’t have five days to watch a Test match. T20 gets over in three and a half hours, [it’s] like watching a movie. Therefore it is picking up very fast,” said Manohar (without explaining what sort of movies he watched). “We are trying to see whether the Test Championship will generate interest because Test cricket is actually dying, to be honest. So, to improve the situation, we are trying ways and means. The [ICC] board of directors came to the conclusion that, if we start a Test Championship, it would keep Test cricket alive and generate more interest in the game,” Manohar said.
SA’s victories against India and Australia last summer and India’s maiden triumph in Australia in 2019 generated vast, global interest and the West Indies demolition of England in the Caribbean recently has also attracted huge audiences from around the world.
Manohar is right that fewer people these days have the time to watch five days of cricket, but that does not mean there is no interest intense interest.
There are still good reasons to be thankful that the Test Championship has been introduced some sort of formalisation of the format has been required for more than a decade. But Manohar and every other administrator in the game should probably exercise caution in promoting the new competition as anything more than an experiment, never mind a silver bullet.
It is fundamentally flawed in “fairness” and has the potential to cause considerable embarrassment before the scheduled final on June 21 2021 probably, at Lord’s.
The top nine teams, excluding Zimbabwe, Ireland and Afghanistan, will play three series home and away for two years following the World Cup. So each nation will miss two of the others.
New Zealand, for example, will not play England and SA. Australia, on the other hand, will not play Sri Lanka or the West Indies. According to the rankings, that would appear to hand the Black Caps a significant advantage over their Antipodean rivals.
India will not play Sri Lanka or Pakistan (of course) while England will have no fixtures against Bangladesh and New Zealand.
It doesn’t require a genius to see that the schedule has been arranged to maximise revenue instead of organise a “fair” competition, that is both pragmatic and understandable, but nonetheless a significant compromise. The allocation of points is, potentially, far more worrying. A total of 120 will be awarded for every series, no matter if it is a five-match Ashes series or a two-match series between SA and Sri Lanka.
Each victory in a five-match series will be worth 24 points whereas a single victory in a two-Test series will be worth 60 points. If England or Australia prevail 3-2 in a pulsating, hard-fought series, they will gain 72 points.
If New Zealand beat Bangladesh 2-0 they will earn 160. A draw will be worth a third of the points of a victory 20 in a two-Test series, 10 in a three-Test series, 13.3 in a fourTest series and eight in a fiveTest series. The notion that three series, home and away, in the two-year cycle somehow levels the playing field is also misleading. India will play 10 Tests at home and eight away while the resurgent West Indies, for example, who have finally learned how to maximise home advantage, will play six at home and nine away. A few rain wash-outs and the odd upset here and there could easily see India playing New Zealand in the Test Championship final, or England against Pakistan or even the West Indies.
World rankings will continue to exist alongside the Championship which may, or not, add interest and credibility. We shall see.
But Test cricket is not dying, it is in rude health. Thank goodness.