Test Cricket is dead

[cowboysfan]

There are two types of fans. Purists/real fans/classical fans and those who love excitement and fireworks. The former will stay loyal to test cricket and the later will love T20s. Its ODI cricket that is losing identity. Tests will stay because there will remain a significant percentage of players and fans who would want that format over any other format any day. T20 has commercial value. ODIs are stuck somewhere in between. Purists say its not the read deal and casual fans say it lacks the excitements of T20s. Basically no one wants it. Then tournaments like Ashes and the Border-Gavaskar trophy will keep the commercial value of test matches to a level more than enough for it to survive. We all know that some times test cricket can be much more exciting than T20. Which cricket fan will not watch a Calcutta 2001? Having said that ODIs are not going to be entirely charmless. Still a Tendulkar in full flow is a mesmerizing sight in ODIs. But compared to tests, ODIs are more in danger.

your premise is incorrect.you will find that most fans are cricket fans first.they can identify what each format brings to the table and are able to enjoy it for that reason.you would think there is a division in cricket fandom because these fans are the most shrill about their supposed "loyalties" and they denounce other formats at the first opportunity on message boards

[Dhondy]

This is the Harsha Bhogle brand of journalism. Two pages when a paragraph would have sufficed. (Indian hat on): Yey, I can write English, speak English, I'll let everybody else know that I can.

[iHammad]

test cricket is boring

[Mr. Wicket]

This is the Harsha Bhogle brand of journalism. Two pages when a paragraph would have sufficed.

Bravo. Thanks for summing up my thoughts so succintly and so eloquently at the same time.

[Sachinism]

Its been confirmed, Test cricket is dead!!!! ICC chief suggests four-day Tests http://www.cricinfo.com/ci-icc/content/current/story/411075.html

[Watson87]

Test cricket is surely dead now which is sad but at least the players will have one day of rest now. Still it's sad :((

[satishg]

4 day test cricket is the most stupidest idea i have ever heard..If the ICC is seriously planning to bring about this change, then they themselves will lead Test cricket to its grave :((

[Guest Hiten.]

Its been confirmed, Test cricket is dead!!!! ICC chief suggests four-day Tests http://www.cricinfo.com/ci-icc/content/current/story/411075.html

While they are at it, why not make test cricket a 24 hour non-stop contest ? :giggle:. Test cricket should be left as it is and two-tier system should be implemented. Teams that don't perform upto the "test level" mark should be relegated and the team that tops 2nd tier should be promoted to 1st tier. A bit of premier league kinda implementation but this would ensure that all the cricketing nations get to play fair bit of test cricket in a year and are not left out. And as Prof mentioned, pitches should be improved where a fair contest is on the cards. Test cricket will survive and the pessimists won't :D

[yoda]

So how are they going to get more results/ensure less draws/maintain more interest if they play it over 4 days? How about keeping it 5 days, but declare the team with better NRR as the winner in case of draws? We will atleast see some sense of urgency in the batting even on seemingly dead pitches.

[flamy]

The problem for Test Cricket is there is no real competition except when India play Aus. Rest of them are so boring.

[Desi Cartman]

If its going to die then all cricket fans are responsible for it ( yes including purists ). How many people go out these days to watch test cricket ? In majority of the cases people dont have 5 days time to watch a test match at home or in a stadium. Try asking kids (and most females) if they wanna watch T20 or test cricket ? I remember how my friends (& wife) refused to go to MCG to watch India Vs Aus test match but when I asked them if they wanna watch T20 , they were all ready in a min. Test cricket will die because people dont have 5 days to watch cricket anymore & its business for the boards/players.

[Zap_Brannigan]

To me, Quality of test cricket has been on the wane. This has nothing to do with other formats of the game. It has to do with the pitches and I blame the ICC for not coming down on boards which batsmen friendly wickets. Ideally any test pitch should have something for the bowlers from that start. A test cricket should be a test of a batsman and a bowler but when too often you have pitches on which anything but a draw is a miracle, I stop watching. Also recently, umpiring mistakes have over shadowed a good contest more than once esp. the last 3 times we toured Aus. ICC took their own sweet time to do anything about this. Test cricket has become a joke and tedious to watch. Before the T20 culture seeps into every cricket team and before the test match enthusiast remaining in the sides retire from cricket, ICC has to something to revamp test cricket. A 4 day test is the opposite of it. 2 T20 WC and a champion’s trophy in a period of 9 months is the opposite of that. I would suggest the ICC to something in the line of 1. Fine pitches that are flatter than a road and bowler friendly wickets like we saw in NZ. 2. Remove their monopolistic rule that only 3 teams can participate in an ODI tournament rule. This will give a good leeway to organize a proper series (3/5 tests + 4 team mini tournament) and bring back a sense of pride in winning the series in both tests and ODI. 3. Cut down on your stupid ICC tournaments. 1 ODI WC every 4 years. 1 T20 WC every 3 years is enough. IPL is going to happen every year, whether you like it or not. It’s not under your control. The more WC’s you have the more the teams are going to ignore tests and concentrate on the WC. 4. Set minimum quality control on stadiums and make sure than Asian countries follow them.

[Bradman99]

If they want to make tests 4 days then it may as well be dead as far as I'm concerned.

[Rajiv]

Why are ppl complaining abt 5 day tests? We were just used to 5 days as they have seen it for so long, but originally it was timless So 2 innings - per day each = 4 days, so what! Keep the 5th day as reserve ODIs were 55 originally too Its all abt adaptation - get a move on

[Mr. Wicket]

Really depends, Rajiv. If they keep the pitches we've seen in Pakistan and WI, we may see scorelines of 600/5 declared and 720/7 in response become 500/6 and 620/8 with even more boring, tiresome draws. If they allow for more sporting pitches and encourage attacking cricket from batsman and bowler, then the game will be well off whether it's a four or five day match. Seriously - most of the matches that have been played on GOOD pitches with something in it for the bowler as well end up finishing around the fourth day these days. Nothing wrong with that. But they need to do some serious groundwork first so not every other match is a high scoring runfest played on a road where flat track bullies like Thilan Samaraweera and Paul Collingwobble belt big scores.

[Anakin]

Zap, the pitches are becoming more batsmen friendly because of other formats.

[CricketGirl]

i like the atmosphere of being at test cricket just lazing around chilling with some mates at the ground but its no where nr as entertaining as t20!! as you guys aleady know i became more interested in cricket during thr t20 back in 2007! ODI's are a good balance between the 2 i think!!

[DomainK]

I am waiting for the Pakistan-Lanka tests series and the Ashes. It will be fun.

[CricketGirl]

I am waiting for the Pakistan-Lanka tests series and the Ashes. It will be fun.

i started following the ashes between england and ozzies but i'm bored of it now!