A glorious weekend for Test cricket

– A few years ago, an award-winning film “Death of a Gentleman” drew attention to what appeared to be the steady decline of Test cricket as it struggled to ward off the popularity of the shorter game.

On Sunday, however, Test match cricket, which has been on the scene since Australia and England first locked horns at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in March 1877, showed there is still life in the format.

An extraordinary day of twists and turns saw two gripping games in Brisbane and Hyderabad reach nail-biting finales.

They also launched two new stars, both 24, in England’s leftarm spinner Tom Hartley and West Indian fast bowler Shamar Joseph.

In Hyderabad, Hartley went from zero to hero, taking 7/62 on his Test debut to help England to a 28-run win over India.

In Brisbane, Joseph, who was working as a security guard a year ago, came back from being helped off the field after being smashed on the toe while batting, to rip through Australia’s much-vaunted batting line-up.

Playing in only his second Test, he took 7/68 as the West Indies won by just eight runs, their first win in Australia since 1997.

“I feel like we won the series. Even though it’s 1-1 I feel like we won the entire series,” Joseph told reporters.

“I will always be here to play Test cricket for the West Indies,” Joseph said with some reverence.

“There will be times when T20 might come around and Test cricket will be there...but I will always be available to play for the West Indies no matter how much money comes towards me.”

Skipper Kraigg Brathwaite said victory was the perfect riposte to former Australia fast bowler

Rodney Hogg who had described the West Indies as “pathetic and hopeless”.

“We wanted to show the world we’re not pathetic,” he said.

Test cricket has come under threat over several decades by the rise first of one-day cricket and latterly from the emergence of T20, as franchises have sprung up around the world.

This month, for example, South Africa withheld its top players from a Test tour to New Zealand so that they could play instead in the domestic T20 tournament.

The money in T20, especially in the Indian Premier League is eye-watering – Australia captain Pat Cummins fetched $2.47 million for a few weeks’ work in the 2024 auction – so it is no surprise that players are attracted.

Fans enjoy the thrash, bash and smash as well as the flashing lights, bright colours and party atmosphere while television is attracted by the easier packaging of the shorter game.

For all its bells and whistles, however, T20 lacks the nuances and slow-burning drama of the kind seen in Brisbane and Hyderabad. –