How to save Test Cricket?

Test cricket is dying. Slowly, but surely. Viewers are diminishing, interest of people waning, superstars of the game opting out of the game. A calamity is looming test cricket. If unchecked, it might well be the end of test cricket as we know it.

Test cricket has been there since March 15, 1877 and even after 140 years of evolution, it continues to mystify me with its fragrance and charm. It survived two world wars. It went through all sorts of transformations. It continued to be played even before air-journey was possible. Players used to tour other countries doing weeks of journey for this beguiling love. One thing which remained constant throughout is: Test cricket remained the most magical of all sports. In this ephemeral and crazy world, test cricket is something which makes sense.

Test cricket is the ultimate form of sports. In test cricket, the victory has to be absolute. You have to get 20 wickets of opposition to win a test match. It doesn't happen by fluke. You can't skirt a player or two to win a test match. If someone's got your batting/bowling attack, it will bite you and the only way out is through.

Test cricket is struggling to keep its viewers engaged. As technology progressed, so did the life-styles. People are busier these days and to find time for such a long sports is something which doesn't come easily. Following steps I can think of to save test cricket in this dire situation:

• Day/Night tests: This is certainly an intriguing experiment done by ICC in 2015. Australia vs New Zealand Adelaide 2015 was the first test match played as a day/night test. The experiment was a huge success. Play starting at mid-afternoon. Two hours play before taking 20 minutes tea-break. Play resuming and then another break after 2 hours as dinner break. It all looked very exciting. This way more viewers can attend the game without affecting their work-life. It added a new dimension to test cricket and could prove to be a lifeline which ultimately saved test cricket.
  The biggest issue which remains is the pink ball. Players have complained about the softness of old pink ball and about the fact that it starts moving around laterally too much as night progresses. The toughest time to bat is an hour before the dinner break when the evening and flood-lights take over. It also raises the issue over the traditions of test cricket. Should the statistics of D/N tests be merged with Day tests knowing that they have been under very different circumstances? What about ensuring that the pink ball behaves in the same manner as red? Can both type of test cricket co-exist or should day tests be scrapped in favor of its young infant? So many questions need to be answered before day/night tests take over.
  
• Four day tests: The concept of test matches lasting four days is an exhilarating one. As seen in last decade or so, most of the test matches have hardly gone beyond 4 days and the number of draws is almost negligible. So, instead of stretching the game for 5 days and 3 sessions every day, the idea is to play 2 sessions of 50 overs each for 4 days. Each session should take around 3.5 hours to complete with 45 minutes break for lunch. It will fasten the pace of the game and we will be losing only a total of 50 overs from the 5-day quota. Good teams will still win and because of shortening the duration, the intensity of the game will inflate for sure. Though it has yet not been tried on international level, talks are being floated around for its initiation. I would definitely like to see this as an experiment. It could be combined with day/night tests as well to provide extra spice.
  Issues with this will likely be: tiredness of players. Playing two 50 over sessions for 4 days in a row will be a demanding one. It will take its toil over the mental and physical health. Since the number of overs proposed in a day are 100, flood-lights need to be used in the last hour or so.
• Two-tier test cricket: A lot of talks are going on around the future of test cricket as being a two tiered one. Teams like Sri Lanka and West Indies have slipped to the nadir in their cricket history. They are getting swallowed by the strong teams in 5-day format(home and away both). So, the proposal is to make the test arena two-tiered. Now that Afghanistan and Ireland have been added as test nations, there are total of 12 full members. So, the division could be six teams (based on the ICC test rankings) each playing home and away series with each other in their group over the duration of 4 years and then finally leading to a test championship. Have a look at the years in which test countries got their status: England - 1877, Australia - 1877, South Africa - 1889, West Indies - 1928, New Zealand - 1930, India - 1932, Pakistan - 1952, Sri Lanka - 1982, Zimbabwe - 1992, Bangladesh - 2000, Ireland - 2017, Afghanistan - 2017. As you can see, most of the countries got the test status so so long back.
  It is certainly unfair that some country getting the test status even before the introduction of modern game continues to rip the benefit forever. Cricket is a challenging game and you need to be on the top of the game everyday to ensure your existence. If someone can't cope up with the challenge, it is only upright that they be slided down to division two where they can reinvent themselves and come back stronger. Letting them brutally crushed by the strong teams won't their morale or test cricket any good. Test cricket is one format, where you need to be at the top of your game for a long duration to make your presence felt. 5 days is enormous time to compete against someone you are not upto. By having two-tiered test cricket, number of one-sided games will reduce, viewers will more engaged, no match will be a meaningless one and it will be for the greater good of the game.
   
• Increasing the match fee to 75k $ for each player: Match-fee is like elephant in the room when it comes down to any kind of sports. I think one of the most important factors in decline of test cricket is funding level to the players. Financially adept countries like India, England, Australia can afford to pay huge chunks of money to their players to keep them available for their crucial games, while poor countries like West Indies, Sri Lanka, Pakistan etc. are forced to see the back of their superstars to the T20 leagues and things like Kolpak etc. It is a gloomy situation. ICC can step in and take proper steps for the equitable distribution of money among the board and players across the countries. A standard match fee of 75k$ should be reserved to each player in playing XI irrespective of the country and series.

• Forcing the star players to play: In recent few years, some of the players have started to choose which series to play in. It is disastrous for the health of cricket. It creates uneasiness about unfair treatment in dressing room. Some players get insecure about their positions knowing that they might be dropped once big guns come back. For example: AB DeVilliers opted not to play the longer formats citing reasons over injury and workload. He participated in IPL, CPL last year which aggravated his injury. Though perfectly understandable is the fact that he is father of two children and this is certainly the time for him to earn enough money to have financial security for future, it has caused detrimental effect on test cricket. Undoubtedly, AB is a gifted cricketer and a crowd-puller. Any team with him in it is a force to reckon with. It is disappointing from the game and fan's perspective that he chose to take such a measure. Other examples of star players who have taken a sabbatical from test cricket are Chris Gayle, MS Dhoni etc. It is responsibility of board and the players to reach a mutually agreeable condition under which these players continue to represent their countries in the longest format.

• Encouraging the viewers: Test cricket can't thrive without engaging its viewers. In England and Australia, there is still an enormous craze for test cricket. But, other countries like India, West Indies, Sri Lanka etc. have lost the touch with the viewers. A lot of interesting steps can be taken to continue their participation. For example: Giving free entry to kids in the stadium, autographs of their heroes, lowering the ticket-fee, increasing women participation in the game etc. Fans are the most vital cog in the prospering of test cricket. Test cricket can't blossom without keeping an eye for them.

• Role of ICC: In recent years, ICC has taken a lot of steps in ensuring the uniformity and widespread of the game. Two new test nations have been added, DRS protocol is being used all over the world with the same conditions, rules are being modified to make it a fairer game and so on. ICC must pitch in "Cricke for Olympic" for shorter formats of the game. Test cricket shouldn't be messed up with. It should remain the pinnacle of the sports. MCC and ICC must collaborate to find the right equilibrium over 4-day and day/night tests.

Test cricket is our game's purest heritage. The sacredness of cricket depends on the continued flourishing of test cricket. Test cricket is a real test of character, determination and grit of an individual. It reveals our true-self.

A toast to test cricket which is 140 year old now and may it long forever.

Crisis looming Test Cricket?

Test cricket is dying. Not yet. But, soon it will if it keeps on getting ignored by ICC and the current state is very delicate. Let's investigate it a little further.

Test cricket is the ultimate form of not only cricket, but all forms of sports. It tests you like nothing else. It will peel you off gradually layer by layer and finds out all about you. It will reveal what you are made of from inside. The highest possible form. The summit. There is nothing like it. It explores you 6 hours a day continuously for 5 days. You don't lose or win a test match by fluke. Victory has to be absolute. You won't lose a test match by a one-over disaster. You will lose it slowly and there are hardly any upsets. If you have got a flaw, it will be exposed over and over and unless you find a cure for it, you will be gone. Just like that. There are no fielding restrictions, one bowler will keep on probing you till he gets you or you get him. There is follow-on, night-watchman, declaration, Lunch, Tea and all those things. You have to use the best conditions for bowling, batting and give the opposition what they like the least. It is a battle of patience, technique, temperament, character and skill. As Sir Ian Botham said, "What's not to like in test cricket?" It is pure joy. It is a class above all other formats.

But, current state of Test cricket is abysmal. So many problems have loomed test cricket. Crowd attendance is getting poorer each day. Star Players are not playing test cricket. There are games without context. The pay players get for playing test cricket is not matching to that to T20 leagues and so on. It warrants immediate attention from ICC. If unchecked, this may lead to extinction of test cricket as we know it altogether.

One of the big factors causing slump in test cricket is the fact that big players Like AB deVilliers, Chris Gayle etc. are opting out of it. The usual excuse is to keep themselves fit for the world cup or extend their cricket careers. Or the ostensibly palpable fact that they can earn a lot more money by playing just a few weeks of ludicrous T20 leagues than they would if they play test cricket for whole year. To me, world cup build up is one of the most overrated things in cricket. There are knockouts in a world cup and cricket is one of the sports in which you don't have to play bad to lose. The opposition brilliance might do it. One player in opposition can take the game away from you. You can't prepare for something like that with complete certainty. Of course, you can do a lot of drills, play a lot of matches to acclimatize yourself, but it will remain uncertain till the day. Why prepare ourselves for an ideal situation which doesn't exist? Why not enjoy a full career involving test and limited overs cricket side by side if you are good at it? Why restrict ourselves to doing half the work? Why not savor the longest format? It is disheartening to see the current state of affairs involving test cricket.  Because of these T20 leagues hampering the availability of players, hardly any team is putting their best XI on the field for a test game at all. Players pull crowd and if good players aren't around, crowd won't come.

Well. Let's talk about T20 leagues. There are T20 leagues going on in every country now. Very recently, Cricket South Africa announced the onset of their own T20 league. So, there we have it. T20 leagues in India, Australia, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and so on. Even England are planning to  remodel their T20 blast structures to a city based structure. How far it will go can't be said at this stage. It is certainly a potential threat to the very existence of test cricket. If people don't go to watch test matches, the game won't survive. A big part of cricket will die.

For International cricket to thrive and prosper, more teams should be playing test cricket and above all, all great players should be playing test cricket. Very recently, ICC added two more teams Afghanistan and Ireland to their test arena and I certainly couldn't be happier about it. To me, it was an absolute moment of joy. Test cricket needs more teams and competitive matches. The crowd attendance in countries (other than England and Australia) have been deteriorating continuously for test cricket. In some parts of the world, the perception of test cricket is diminishing. They prefer T20. There is music, slam-bang batting, starting the game with a fire and all that. It is certainly exciting and undoubtedly, cricket has grown a notch up because of it. But, by abandoning test cricket, we risk losing the sacred legacy of the beautiful game we love. Test cricket needs safeguarding and desperate measures are needed. It is really frightening to see that if the current stage continues, then it may reach the point of no return.

Test cricket is all about heritage and tradition. Bring on pink ball, day-night, four-day tests or test championship. It hardly matters. As long as superstars are opting out of it, it won't be the same. Spectators go to watch cricket to watch quality cricket and only the reinstatement of good players can provide them that. The gap between earning due to T20 leagues and national contracts for test cricket needs to lessen. ICC could provide giving more context to the test matches by launching test championship.  That would encourage interest among players, spectators and broadcasters. Talks about it have been going on for a while and it is time that something actually happens in this direction.

Test cricket needs its fans. It needs protection from ICC. After all, it is the mother of all forms. Hopefully, things will sort themselves out and the inheritance of test cricket will last forever.