Bairstow: Cherish the Test game
CRICKET
JONNY BAIRSTOW believes that more players will follow Adil Rashid and Alex Hales in abandoning Test cricket unless something is done to protect the oldest form of the game.
Rashid (below) and Hales, both England one-day team-mates of Bairstow in New Zealand, recently signed white-ballonly contracts with their respective counties to effectively end their Test careers.
The Yorkshireman said: “Test cricket is huge and if we’re not careful then there are going to be more and more people that do give up red-ball cricket because you’ve got lucrative tournaments around the world that people now can go off and earn a heck of a lot of money for five weeks’ work.
“Whatever way we can preserve Test cricket is really important.
“It’s something we’ve definitely got to cherish.
“I think trying to make sure the guys in county cricket are really pushing themselves to break into that Test team as well as the white-ball sides is going to be really important.”