Monday, August 18, 2008

Test cricket : "They're dying Jim." "Let them die!"

Test cricket is under attack from the new kid on the block (well 5 or so years old kid) Twenty20 of course. Apart from here and Australia test match attendances are rather low, pitifully low in some cases so the England desire to keep test match cricket special is not really shared by some other countries, especially India who now run the game (de-facto).

The T20 Champions League has been rescheduled and now clashes with England's test series in India in December. The Champions League final will be the day before the first test starts which could make for some interesting overnight travel for some players. Boards such as Australia and South Africa maybe are more keen on protecting test cricket but they need the cash from joining the Indian-led T20 money train.

So what should happen then, should we strive to maintain test cricket or just bow to the inevitable? Test match cricket is profitable here but unfortunately even if that remains the case here for other countries it is less of a priority and players will start to opt out of a 5 days test match grind in return for a few hours work that may yield much more money. Weaker teams and finally no teams at all may mean test match cricket dies even in England.

Still lets hope T20's amazing expansion cools down, to be honest i think T20 does need to come down a bit to remain sustainable. Unfortunately cricket is currently run like any capitalist system and short term gain is all that matters.

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