Greek philosopher Heraclitus penned a now famous phrase, “Change is the only constant in life, ” and well, it seems that the Cricket World Cup (CWC) formats took this quote a little too seriously.
Group stage, round-robin, Super Sixes, Super Eights, knockouts—you name it, the format has been experimented with.
History Repeats Itself
From an 8-team event (1975, 1979), the CWC gradually grew to nine teams (1992), then 12 (1996, 1999), 14-teams (2003), and finally reached its inflection point with 16 teams in the 2007 Cricket World Cup.
The 2007 iteration was poorly received for various reasons, but one of the fallouts was halting the gradual expansion of Associate nations in World Cups. With genuine upsets from Ireland & Bangladesh against Pakistan, India, and later South Africa, the ICC lost a major chunk of funding.
The impact?
2011 & 2015 World Cups went back to the ‘90s formats with an elongated 14-team event, while the 10-team 2019 & 2023 events have revived the 1992 round-robin structure, providing as much game time (and hence, financial stability) for the big teams.
If It Is Broke, Fix It
The change of management has done wonders for the ICC—reducing the power of the Big 3, promoting the idea of cricket in the Olympics, and expanding the game with coordinated World Cups with a blockbuster World Cup schedule for the next decade:
Men’s ODI World Cup & Women’s ODI Champions Trophy (2023, 2027, 2031)
Women’s ODI World Cup & Men’s Champions Trophy (2025, 2029)
Women’s & Men’s T20I World Cups (2024, 2026, 2028, 2030)
World Test Championship Final (2023, 2025, 2027, 2029, 2031)
There is at least one major tournament for both men & women every year with the odd years also including the World Test Championship final.
Expansion Is the Will of the Nature
If you thought that was good news, hear this out.
The 54-match ODI World Cup is expanded to a 14-team affair (throwback to 2003) – 2 groups of 7, followed by Super Sixes, and finally the semi-finals & the finals.
The 55-match T20I World Cups will well and truly be a ‘world cup’—20 team tournament, 4 groups of 5, a Super Eight Stage, followed by semi-finals & finals. The T20I World Cup will guarantee at least 4 games for eight non-Test playing nations. Massive improvement.
With expanded World Cups, this provides incentive & motivation for Associate players to continue the game. Several Associate cricketers have taken premature retirements for opportunities elsewhere. This will add the fuel to keep them going.
Basketball has caught up with the FIFA benchmark of world cups with a 32-team event, while field hockey & rugby are 16-team affairs. It is time that cricket expand and catch up to the will of nature.
Revisiting the Glory Days
Remember Dwayne Leverlock’s one-handed stunner? Or Shapoor Zadran’s emotional celebration?
This is what World Cups are for—discovering new talents, cherishing the moments, providing a platform for smaller teams to grow, and promoting competition, not diminishing it.
The Associate Nations have provided numerous moments of glory—World Cup’s fastest century at the hand of Kevin O’Brien to hand England a defeat in Bangalore, Stuart Broad’s missed run-out/overthrow giving way for a Netherlands victory, Zimbabwe’s defeat to world-beaters Australia in 2007, and Bangladesh’s rise via CWC victories against Pakistan (1999), India, South Africa (2007), and England (2011, 2015).
Gruesome Qualifier Tournaments Out of the Window
With the expanded World Cup formats, one thing is for certain. The added salt to injury, also known as the Qualifiers, will have a lesser impact.
After Afghanistan & Ireland attained Test Status and became Full Members, the 2019 & 2023 formats were even more difficult to digest. It is a cricket sin for Full Members to not be a part of the World Cup. Zimbabwe & Ireland did not make it to the 2019 WC, and it is likely that even someone like Sri Lanka can lose out on a spot in the next world cup.
Case & point is the 2018 CWC Qualifier, one of the more closely fought tournaments in recent times. Scotland was in sight of qualifying at the expense of the West Indies or Afghanistan, when rain arrived and Scotland mathemagically lost by 5 runs due to the DL method. Zimbabwe also missed out on a qualification spot due a rained-out match.
An over or two should not determine fates for a World Cup qualification. Even worse was the T20 tournaments. After a 51-match qualification tournament for Associates, teams would enter a 3-match ‘pre-qualification’ stage in the actual world cup itself! Ludicrous.
In 2016, Bangladesh & Afghanistan proceeded to the next round while Zimbabwe, Scotland, Hong Kong, Netherlands, Oman, & Ireland crashed out.
Double disqualification, I like to call it. Survivor of the fittest ones that have the most money.
Warning: Potential Conflicts & T10 Format Ahead
Not everything will be fixed by expanding the Word Cup, however. Last month, the ICC backed T10 Cricket in Olympics. I am in full support of cricket in the Olympics albeit T20.
However, with a T20 World Cup now scheduled every two years, including 2028 & 2032, T20 cricket in the Los Angeles & Brisbane Summer Olympics look like a distant dream. Creating an international T10 format might be the only feasible choice, further crowding the international and the T10/T20 leagues calendar.
In any case, I will definitely take more context in cricket calendar, & support for the Associate & lower-ranked nations in exchange of embracing the T10 format.
It is the Little Moments That Matter
Did we really need a World Cup to prove that in the ‘80s the West Indians were a class apart or the Australians were the best in the world in the 2000s?
No, but a World Cup or Olympics is much more than that. So, why have predictable world cup formats?
Surprises & uncertainty, thrills & chills, unity in a divided world, and sportsmanship & hope amidst despair—that is what sport is all about.
It is about time cricket puts the world back in its so-called world cup.
We consider the implementation Relegation & Promotion in our third segment of Make Test Cricket Great Again & Restore The Soul of this Wonderful Sport.
Today we tackle one of the more popular suggestions on how to make test cricket more competitive and provide a detailed recommendation in our proposal.
The Problem
Ramiz Raza received backlash post the Zimbabwe Vs Pakistan Test series for implying in his YouTube channel that these one-sided series are a joke and will drive cricket fans away to other sports. What is the point of having Test matches where matches finish in 2 or 3 days and the team does not seem to improve?
Despite the social media outrage, he definitely has a point.
Zimbabwe have managed only 14 victories & 28 draws in their 29-year Test history. Similarly, Bangladesh has only won 14 out of their 123 Tests in the past 21-years, and most of them at home. One can argue that India (20 years) & New Zealand (25 years) also took some time to get going, but that was an era between 1930 & 1955.
The entire face of sport has changed since then.
Why Does It Matter?
The World Test Championship was created to encourage context in Test cricket.
However, it has had the opposite impact. Since the finalists, India and New Zealand, were decided before the end of the WTC cycle, the Sri Lanka-Bangladesh and Pakistan-Zimbabwe series had low viewership and zero context.
There was also criticism that while New Zealand breezed through their home games and qualified for the finals, England were penalized even though they achieved success in traditionally tough touring spots like South Africa and Sri Lanka.
The question “Is Test cricket dying?” is thrown around a lot, but it does not provide the whole picture. Rather the question should be asked, “How should the standards of Test cricket increase?” or “How can we even the level-playing field between the top-ranked/most-funded and the lower-tiered nations?”
It is clear that big nations will continue to invest & prosper in Test cricket, so Test cricket will remain alive. It is the lower-ranked teams, who will languish at the bottom.
The Background
According to the current ICC Test rankings*, there is a substantial gap between sides:
Top 4: India (121), New Zealand (120), England (109), Australia (108)
Mid 4: Pakistan (94), West Indies (84), South Africa (80), Sri Lanka (78)
Recently, the ICC also suggested temporary Test status to other Associate nations like Scotland & Netherlands, which is a step in the right direction.
Finally, we need to be mindful of some intricacies before our proposal. Unlike the standardized ODI Super League (3 ODIs per series), the Ashes & Border-Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) rivalry games will continue. On the other hand, a 2-Test series should be abandoned altogether.
*Rankings as of 13 May, 2021
The Proposal
We propose a two-tiered system, Bracket A (ranked #1-6) & Bracket B (#7-12) competing in the World Test Championship, with an additional Bracket C (non-Test playing nations) to encourage Associate nations.
General Rules
2-year cycle, 5 series total
Top 2 of Bracket B promoted to Bracket A
Bottom 2 of Bracket A relegated to Bracket B
Each team plays ALL the other teams in the bracket for an equal amount of games per team
From the 5 series, it should have a division of 2-2-1 (Home/Away/Neutral venue)
If teams are in the same bracket for 2 consecutive cycles, they will alternate between home and away
Since the Big 3 nations play 4-5 Tests among themselves and the lower-ranked teams lose money while hosting a Test series, we will have two sets of proposals for the two brackets.
Bracket A
18 Tests total per team
Three 3-match series, one 4-match Test series, one 5-match Test series
Each series to include 1 Day-Night pink ball Test match per series
Top 2 in Bracket A compete in a 3-match World Test Championship Grand Finale held in a neutral venue
*This depends if India and Pakistan agree to play each other because they will be in the same bracket if we go by current rankings.
Bracket B
15 Tests total
Five 3-match series
Top 2 of Bracket B compete in a Final match (neutral venue)
Both finalists receive monetary award (incentive for lower-ranked teams)
Bracket C
Replaces the Intercontinental Cup
4-Day matches, classified as First-Class Matches
1-3 matches per series depending on resources
Exhibition games scheduled against Bracket B members
Receive Test Status at the end of the cycle on a case-by-case basis
Demonstration
We demonstrate this proposal by utilizing the final status of the inaugural WTC Points Table. Here is how a potential Bracket A and Bracket B may look like if this proposal was implemented for the next iteration of the WTC:
Bracket A
India (Ind)
New Zealand (NZ)
Australia (Aus)
England (Eng)
Pakistan (Pak)
West Indies (WI)
Bracket B
South Africa (SA)
Sri Lanka (SL)
Bangladesh (Ban)
Zimbabwe (Zim)
Ireland (Ire)
Afghanistan (Afg)
For Bracket A, here is how the scheduling may look like.
Ind: 5 vs NZ, 4 vs Aus (BGT), 3 Vs Rest
NZ: 5 vs Ind, 4 vs Pak, 3 Vs Rest
Aus: 5 vs Eng (Ashes), 4 vs Ind (BGT), 3 Vs Rest
Eng: 5 vs Aus (Ashes), 4 vs WI, 3 Vs Rest
Pak: 5 vs WI, 4 vs NZ, 3 Vs Rest
WI: 5 vs Pak, 4 vs Eng, 3 Vs Rest
For Bracket C, we can look back to the 8-team 2015-2017 ICC Intercontinental Cup for inspiration. By the current ODI ranking, Netherlands (13), Scotland (14), Oman (15), Nepal (16), UAE (17), Namibia (18), United States (19), & Papua New Guinea (20), and Hong Kong (played in the last Intercontinental Trophy) should be offered the choice of playing “temporary Test cricket.”
This can provide a pipeline & adequate preparation for Associate nations to be granted Test status in the future instead of just at random (like granting Bangladesh Full Status after defeating Pakistan in 1999 World Cup).
Potential Consequences – A New Cricket Calendar
If implemented, the tiered-Test system has the potential to alter cricket forever.
The World Test Championship, ODI Super League schedule, & a formalized T20 league calendar should be the basis of scheduling matches. It will be the end of ICC’s Future Tours Programme (FTP). Hence, all matches in all formats will become consequential. No more dead rubbers.
Another possible scenario is the solidification of the two-separate squads experiment. Due to the pandemic, Australia initially scheduled two separate teams for South Africa Tests (eventually cancelled) & New Zealand limited overs series. This has come to life with India sending two separate squads for England (Tests) & Sri Lanka (limited overs).
With the new cricket calendar, it is likely that a short limited overs tour will be scheduled (for ODI Super League) at the same time as a long 5-match Test series (for WTC).
Although the Zimbabwe-Pakistan series displayed a stark difference in class, we should not jump to conclusions too quickly. The India-England series also included 2-day Tests and India were all out for 36 not too long ago.
Zimbabwe should still play Tests. All Full Members should. Provide the lower ranked teams with context and additional funding to host Tests, and they will flourish.
Just give them some time.
What do you think? Yay or Nay to Relegation/Promotion & a 2-Tiered System? Or would you do it differently – maybe two brackets of 5 teams each, until Afghanistan/Ireland find their feet in Test cricket?
Since MS Dhoni’s men lifted the inaugural T20I World Cup trophy in 2007, the Indian cricket team has failed to reach those heights again in the T20 format.
Indian Premier League is cricket world’s most lucrative and competitive tournament, providing Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) the monopoly to dominate cricket politics. Its influence has reached such an extent that England is even proposing to host the remainder of the IPL by reducing the 5-Test series, but that is another story.
While IPL’s brand has hit the ceiling over the past decade, the quality of the Indian international T20I team has remained stagnant.
One of the main reasons is BCCI’s reluctance to let Indian cricketers play in foreign leagues—the Hundred, CPL, BBL, BPL, PSL, Abu Dhabi T10 among others.
1. The Argument – Out of Favor Players Need an Outlet
India is sending separate squads for the England Test tour and Sri Lanka limited-overs series, an insight into the future.
Separate squads for different formats mean more international spots for domestic players. Yet, fringe players have limited opportunities. Out-of-favor players should have multiple outlets to stake a claim or regain lost spots.
Players looking to break into the Indian Test squad usually grind it out in Ranji Trophy or county cricket, but what about limited overs specialists? How about domestic stalwarts without an IPL contract but can provide value overseas? Or consider Kuldeep Yadav’s case, who has been warming the bench for two seasons.
If you rest, you rust.
Rather than wait an entire year for the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy and IPL, these cricketers could sharpen their skills overseas. They would improve, become financially stable, and help BCCI learn more about them.
Win-win situation.
2. Retired Players
Yuvraj Singh had to retire from cricket altogether to qualify for a T10 tournament, while Harbhajan Singh and plenty of others were denied altogether in similar cases. Not a proper way to treat legends.
In 2007, Australia’s greatest era was coming to an end with retirements of Adam Gilchrist, Matthew Hayden, Shane Warne, & Glenn McGrath.
Their acquisition highlighted the early days of the IPL. Hayden was CSK’s mainstay (remember the Mongoose Bat?), Warne inspired Rajasthan Royals’ inaugural win, and Gilchrist did the same with Deccan Chargers in 2009.
Watson exemplifies these points. His Player of the Series performance in IPL 2008 reignited his flailing international career. Post-retirement, Watson regained form in PSL 2019 (Player of the Series), held prior to IPL 2019, which helped CSK in their run to the final.
3. Learn From the West Indies
West Indies just announced a blockbuster summer ahead. 4 Tests, 3 ODIs, and 15 T20Is, right in time for the T20 World Cup. The likes of Chris Gayle, Andre Russell, and Dwayne Bravo have returned. Consider this squad for a second:
Chris Gayle, 2. Evil Lewis, 3. Nicholas Pooran, 4. Shimron Hetmyer, 5. Kieron Pollard, 6. Andre Russell, 7. Jason Holder, 8. Dwayne Bravo, 9. Oshane Thomas, 10. Sheldon Cottrell, 11. Hayden Walsh Jr.
With Lendl Simmons, Andre Fletcher, Fabian Allen, Fidel Edwards, Akeal Hosein, & Obed McCoy on the sidelines and Sunil Narine yet to make his international comeback, this team is ready to complete their World Cup hattrick.
Benchmarking helps.
4. Match Practice and Pressure Situations
What is the secret sauce of this Caribbean generation?
In between World Cups, players employ their trade around the various leagues, gain valuable match practice in all conditions, simulate pressure situations, and experience playing with or against world-class opposition.
One can argue that West Indians were born for T20 format, but the same cannot be said about England.
Before 2015, England were adamant against the IPL and T20 leagues, except for Kevin Pietersen. Post the 2015 ODI World Cup debacle, they changed their thinking. The result? Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler, and Jofra Archer had stellar seasons, became better limited overs players as a result, and England won the 2019 Cricket World Cup.
Radical change. Rapid strides.
5. The Solution
While injuries and players undervaluing internationals for T20 obligations are genuine concerns, there is a solution—implement a maximum cap of 2-3 leagues per year. This will ensure clarity in communication and provide time to obtain No-objection certificates (NOC), which will help cricketers manage commitments without giving up international dreams.
It does not have to be an all-or-nothing, but frankly the conversation needs to start somewhere.
Safeguarding the IPL brand is hurting India internationally.
IPL helped catapult India to the 2011 Cricket World Cup, but others have caught up. It is time BCCI let their players develop internationally if they have any chance in future T20 World Cups.
Cricket in Olympics has long been a hot topic among the cricketing fraternity and has re-emerged in the latest round of ICC meetings.
One particular revelation from this meeting reminded me of a scene from Madagascar 2. It goes like this.
“Attention. This is the ICC speaking. We have good news and bad news. The good news is we have made a landing in the Olympics. The bad news is—it is T10 cricket.”
So is there any merit in this idea or just totally absurd? We will talk about the history of cricket in the Olympics, the pros and cons, and whether I think it should be accepted or not.
Here is a bit of trivia for you—did you know the 1900 Paris Olympics included cricket?
1900 Olympics
Although cricket was initially scheduled in the inaugural modern 1896 Olympics, it was cancelled due to lack of interest. For the 1900 edition, Netherlands and Belgium pulled out after showing interest, while Great Britain & France sent club teams for the 2-day match.
Eventually Great Britain won by 158 runs with only five minutes remaining on day two. It would take 98 years for cricket to feature in another such tournament.
1998 Kuala Lumpur Commonwealth Games: 16 teams, 4 groups, and 50-overs format. The tournament saw teams like Jamaica & Barbados compete independently along with Malaysia, Canada, Northern Ireland, and Scotland. Eventually South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand won the gold, silver, and bronze respectively. Yes, South Africa actually won something.
Guangzhou2010 & Incheon 2014 Asian Games: Men/Women competitions in T20 format. India declined to send teams, while Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Afghanistan, & even Japan won medals across the two tournaments. Apart from hosts China & South Korea, teams like Maldives, Nepal, and Hong Kong participated.
Pros & Cons
Pros:
Women’s Cricket will benefit from expansion to newer teams. One of the stories of the 2020 Women’s T20 World Cup was Thailand’s qualification. Imagine how other smaller countries could similarly rise from the Olympics.
Cricket has the potential to go from a ‘niche sport,’ only played in a fraction of the former British commonwealth to a much broader world audience due to television & media promotions
Due to a shorter window, the format would have to be a knock-out tournament, which would give more chances to multiple teams rather than the 10-team two month long slug fest known as the World Cup.
T10 takes about 2 hours to complete, which is a plus for short-spanned 21st century spectators.
Cons:
T20 World Cup, ODI World Cup, World Test Championship, & Olympics, not to mention T20 leagues. Too many tournaments will create dilution & overkill of cricket, which could have an adverse effect on the sport.
T10 in the Olympics would imply making it the fourth official international format. With T20I & Test cricket doing well, this would be curtains for the struggling 50-over ODI format.
Opposition to Cricket in Olympics
Cricket’s inclusion in the Olympics has historically been opposed by teams like England & India. England declined to send a team for the 1998 Commonwealth due to scheduling conflicts with County cricket.
Similar concerns drive the opposition to T20 cricket in the Olympics. Such a tournament would imply having qualification tournaments, which would hamper the T20 calendar and decrease value of the T20 World Cup, which leads to possibly decreasing revenues.
The Verdict: Yay or Nay?
T10 cricket is not the ideal format.
Some people say it is a shortened version of T20. Wrong. It is just an expanded Super Over. Cricket is a game of skills and talent, but T10 may just be a fluke, and nobody is interested in that. No place for bowlers and not great advertisement for cricket.
However, the game has evolved. There was even a time when colored clothing, day-night cricket, DRS, and T20 cricket had doubters.
So, should cricket be tried in the Olympics? Well, why not? It never hurts to try.
Of course, technicalities about the format and qualification process can be decided later.
So, When Can We See Cricket in Olympics?
Cricket will be played in the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games. Only women’s edition will take place—T20, 8 teams, round-robin tournament, and a qualifier for a Caribbean nation. Finally, USA Cricket’s long-term goal has been to host the 2028 LA Olympics, although 2032 Brisbane Olympics is probably a better bet.
FAQs
Why is there no cricket in Olympics?
Cricket’s inclusion in the Olympics has historically been opposed by teams like England & India. England declined to send a team for the 1998 Commonwealth due to scheduling conflicts with County cricket. Similar concerns drive the opposition to T20 cricket in the Olympics. Such a tournament would imply having qualification tournaments, which would hamper the T20 calendar and decrease value of the T20 World Cup, which leads to possibly decreasing revenues.
What is the history of cricket in Olympics and other international events?
Although cricket was initially scheduled in the inaugural modern 1896 Olympics, it was cancelled due to lack of interest. For the 1900 edition, Netherlands and Belgium pulled out after showing interest, while Great Britain & France sent club teams for the 2-day match. Eventually Great Britain won by 158 runs with only five minutes remaining on day two. It would take 98 years for cricket to feature in another such tournament.
1998 Kuala Lumpur Commonwealth Games: 16 teams, 4 groups, and 50-overs format. The tournament saw teams like Jamaica & Barbados compete independently along with Malaysia, Canada, Northern Ireland, and Scotland. Eventually South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand won the gold, silver, and bronze respectively. Yes, South Africa actually won something. Guangzhou2010 & Incheon 2014 Asian Games: Men/Women competitions in T20 format. India declined to send teams, while Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Afghanistan, & even Japan won medals across the two tournaments. Apart from hosts China & South Korea, teams like Maldives, Nepal, and Hong Kong participated.
When Can We See Cricket in Olympics?
Cricket will be played in the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games. Only women’s edition will take place—T20, 8 teams, round-robin tournament, and a qualifier for a Caribbean nation. Finally, USA Cricket’s long-term goal has been to host the 2028 LA Olympics, although 2032 Brisbane Olympics is probably a better bet.
Other Innovations in Cricket
Image Courtesy: The Department for Culture, Media and Sport, CC BY 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons
Here we are with part II in our series, Make Test Cricket Great Again: Problems with Test Cricket.
Albert Einstein once said, “If I had an hour to solve a problem I’d spend 55 minutes thinking about the problem and 5 minutes thinking about solutions.”
This is exactly our goal. The long-term ambition of this series of articles is to generate a whole list of problems associated with Test cricket, propose respective solutions(both idealistic & practical), bring other people in during the process, and maybe at the end, gather enough momentum to gain the attention of administrators & the ICC.
Today, we bring in our friends from Twitter who will share their concerns with Test cricket & the World Test Championship.
The more opinions we have, the better. We can only move forward with a rich exchange of ideas between the fans, commentators, local administrators, experts, & former players rather than just the meeting board room of the Big 3.
The Work Done So Far
We did a similar exercise during the early days of the World Test Championship, but we wish to build upon this model. Here are some of our past proposals to improve the WTC.
Problems: Imbalance of the Big 3 (Australia, England, India) and the bias of ‘marquee’ series like the 5-match Ashes.
Solution: Merge the FTP (Future Tour Programme) & the WTC, and create a system where each team plays a 5-4-3 match series or 4-4-4 Test match series during a cycle. “Instead of scrapping the Ashes, we will keep traditional rivalries intact and encourage new ones.” Overall, 24 games against 9 opponents in a 2.5 year WTC cycle.
Problems: (1) Points fluctuate based on number of games in a series (60 points – 2 Tests, 40 – 3 Tests, 24 – 5 Tests), (2) No points accommodated for Home & Away Advantage, and (3) All-Or-Nothing Points System for a 5 day-15 session Test match.
Solution: We combine the ODI Super League system (consistent base point system per series), provide a mechanism for home versus away (away wins & draws worth more), and distribute additional points across sessions to incorporate ebb & flow (2 points – session won, 1 point – even/wash out).
We implement our system from above and compare it with the WTC Table (as of August 30, 2020)
The Work Planned Ahead
The issue with my initial set of articles was the underlying assumption that each team will play an equal number of matches against each other. In a post-COVID world, matches are not guaranteed, and it seems certain nations are prioritizing games against higher ranked teams and calling off series against lower-ranked ones.
Hence, we plan to do practical investigations in our future articles:
Revenue each Test playing nation generates: How much money does each cricket board and player earn every Test series per country? Why does New Zealand lose money to host a Test? How does the revenue compare to T20 leagues and the death of the tri-series?
What does it take to host a Test match? We can analyze what goes during the match but what goes behind the scenes? We will research and examine key components: The major players, administrators, ground staff, and more.
Equity vs Equality: Innovations that can help further bridge the gap between the different teams given the current financial status and level of each team.
The Pink Ball Test: Does More Harm Than Good? Day-night Test matches ending in 2-3 days cannot generate more crowd/interest than a balanced Test match held for 5 days during the day. We will analyze the key differences between the red ball & pink ball, practice matches in domestic tournaments, and if this idea is worth sustaining?
Your Opinion Matters: Problems With Test Cricket
In Part I of the series, we asked our friends on Twitter how they would improve Test cricket. Some ideas that I brainstormed to get the conversation started were as follows:
Getting rid of DRS umpires call (on impact)
Improving/ Standardizing pitches (Chennai 2x pitch received way too much backlash)
Promoting more money from T20 leagues to help out domestic cricketers
Having a relegation-promotion system for the WTC
What Do People Think?
Now it is the people’s turn. Here is what they had to say. These are interesting Twitter accounts, blogs, & podcasts in their own right. Feel free to check them out (links next to the name).
“Definitely agree that that there is too much disparity between the big three and every other team. I am also onboard with a ‘division’ system for the WTC.”
Every team should play against each other. That will make the tournament lengthy but it will make it perfect and no teams can be said to have an easier pool or tougher pool. Conduct finals once in 4-5 years. Every Test playing nation should play against each other. It will make the WTC more enthralling contest.
“I just hate the comments that this team got ‘easier’ away tours than others. Or easier home games. WTC is a mighty big championship and in something big like this, you do not want any comments which should call it unfair.”
Conclusion
Brilliant entries from Twitter! Major theme was to create a balance in the number of Test matches played between each country during a particular cycle. Some innovative solutions for the WTC included 2 groups semi-finals format, bonus points against higher ranked teams, & a 3-match final. For Test cricket in general—mandatory neutral umpires, DRS improvement, & updating rain-protocols were some interesting proposals.
Looking Forward
Last time, I started with “I have been meaning to write this article for months now, but for some reason have not been able to.”
I now know why. This is not a one day project. Or a one week project. Or even a one person project. This will take input from several individuals, research & conversations, back & forth exchanges, and a lot of time. But, as they say:
“Rome was not built in day. It was built brick by brick.”
One step at a time.
Make Test Cricket Great Again and Restore the Soul of This Wonderful Sport.
Make Test Cricket Great Again—I have been meaning to write this article for months now, but for some reason have not been able to.
Maybe it is because of the recent bit of exhilarating Test cricket, and all is actually well and good. Or maybe there is too much to fix and Test cricket has just become a lost cause.
The reality is somewhere in the middle.
Test Cricket At Its Best
Just in the last month, we witnessed some exhilarating bits of test cricket.
Pakistan’s tour of New Zealand – we saw New Zealand’s best pace quartet, Mohammad Rizwan-Faheem Ashraf’s courage to save Pakistan from numerous collapses, Azhar Ali answering his critics, and Fawad Alam redeeming his lost decade in the last match of 2020. Almost saved the match if not for Mitchell Santner’s jumping catch.
Fast forward the next month, we saw epic lows and mountainous highs in the India vs Australia series – the 36 All Out, finally a 5th Day test match save at Sydney, and the breach of the Gabba. Then, followed England’s sweep of Sri Lanka and India’s defeat at Chennai.
All of these Test match efforts were swept under the carpet after Nkrumah Bonner and Kyle Mayers’ amazing chase of 396 against Bangladesh. The West Indies ended up winning the series 2-0. If India’s 3rd string victory in Australia was anything, West Indies’ debutants eclipsed it one step further. Winning Test matches in Bangladesh is not easy anymore. Just ask England or Australia.
Is Test Cricket Dying?
With 6 overseas victories, an enthralling draw (almost 2), and only 2 wins by a home side recently (Melbourne and Chennai 2x), we can definitely say that Test cricket is not dying.
Between the 2011 and 2019 World Cup, these matches were hard to come by. With the exception of the great South African generation, almost no team won overseas. The only competitive test series I remember is the England-New Zealand 2013-14 series. Ashes 2019 reignited the fire in Test Cricket, and post-COVID, the flame has continued to spread.
So now with the World Test Championship heating up in its final stage and teams starting to compete overseas again, is everything well and good? Absolutely not.
The Big 3 still dominate, WTCs Points Table sucks, there is no context for teams out of contention, and finances for Test cricket are a problem. Here are some of our past proposals to improve the World Test Championship.
What we wish to do in this series of articles, Make Test Cricket Great Again, is to expose problems faced by Test cricket, provide practical solutions, and go from there.
I highlighted practical for a specific purpose. Earlier, our series of articles on Test Cricket included solutions that involved each Test team playing an equal number of matches and assumed that the influence of the Big 3 will reduce over time. In the post-COVID world, this prediction is far away from the truth.
England will play 18 Tests for the WTC while Bangladesh will play around 4. Australia cancelled a Test series against South Africa which put a sour taste on the CSA-CA relationship, and it seems the WTC is basically a longwinded quadrangular series between New Zealand, England, India, and Australia.
Hence our future articles in Make Test Cricket Great Again category may include more practical insights like:
Revenue each Test playing nation generates
What It takes to host a Test match
Equity vs Equality: Innovations that can help further bridge the gap between the different teams given the current financial status and level of each team
Your Opinion Matters
So, how do you think should Test cricket should improve? We would love to share your thoughts in our future articles. We want to hear some innovative ideas (not too innovative though…the Big Bash tried too hard). Here are some other ideas that I have thought about, but maybe you all can pitch in with some more!
Getting rid of DRS umpires call (on impact)
Improving/ Standardizing pitches (Chennai 2x pitch received way too much backlash)
Promoting more money from T20 leagues to help out domestic cricketers
Having a relegation-promotion system for the WTC
Conclusion
Although Donald Trump lost his reelection bid for U.S. Presidential Election and Joe Biden prevailed—we can do something unheard of—combine both of their slogans and adopt it for our purposes:
Make Test Cricket Great Again and Restore the Soul of This Wonderful Sport.
