Do some fans want Test cricket to die?

[leatherface58]

Let me preface this by saying that I love test matches. It has its place and is quite compelling. I do not like how some fans outright disrespect the other formats as if they are a piece of cake to play. That being said, test cricket is really weak right now. It does not draw anymore despite the tests becoming way more result-oriented. Gone are the dark days of the past where 6 matches yielded a 0-0 result or a 2-1 result. Even then, tests do not draw partly because teams have become very territorial in their performances. There is no team around that can definitively win in all conditions which admittedly makes for some exciting cricket since an away series win is that much of a pleasant surprise now.

This brings me to some posts I read on this forum that Bangladesh should not play test cricket. Bangladesh have been a poor side for pretty much all of their tests except for a brief period in the recent past where they beat teams like Australia and England at home which is not a bad thing at all. Bangladesh have been horrible in this series against West Indies but South Africa were pathetic simultaneously in Sri Lanka. Australia have been pathetic in Asia for decades. The subcontinental teams have been abject in Australia and South Africa for their whole tenure! We have yet to win a test series in India. Sri Lanka has yet to win a test match in India/Australia. Should all of us lose test status?

ICC has been a total failure in terms of expanding the sport. Part of the fault is no one really has the time or inclination to watch a format which needs 5 days with 7 hours each day. Sometimes, it is dull for 4 days and finally gets exciting on the 5th day but by then, fans have tuned out. The first test match was played in 1877 and since then only 10 teams have played the format (with the Irish and Afghans joining this year). The format has been unable to attract new fans from the existing nations so why is it wrong to add new teams to the fold so we can get fans from those countries even if those teams are not exactly ready? Test cricket is a niche format of a niche sport and stripping Bangladesh of their test status is a way to make it even more niche.

I will conclude by saying that this is not necessarily a pro-Bangladesh post (I am not anti-Bangladesh either) but more of a pro-expanding the sport post. Bangladesh fans and their athletes have been guilty of exaggerating their team's prowess before but to strip them of their test status right now will pretty much ensure that even lesser people care about the format than they do now.

TLDR: We should bring more fans to test cricket as opposed to driving them away and if that means weaker teams get/retain test status to expand the fanbase, so be it.

 

[shane]

Interesting question. Maybe start a poll? For me, it would be tragic if Test cricket dies. But it's hard to ignore the empty stadiums.

 

[ManFan]

Test cricket needs to rid itself of certain plagues.

These include but are not limited to...

1) Teams preparing pitches that are advantageous to them but not giving visiting teams ample preparations and time.

2) There not being any distinction or pride in achieving a high ranking as they are quite meaningless as long as the H/A factor is being overlooked.

3) There should be ways for Test cricket to engage the audience for five days. No other sporting contest lasts that long. The only way I see it is by having quality teams competing against one another in balanced conditions.

4) Reduce the see-saw towards the batsmen by enforcing smaller bats, longer boundaries, more bouncers, and introduce a rest day in between Days 2 and 4.

 

[B_Positive]

People dont want to watch test cricket and also they dont want it to die.

 

[Suleiman]

I think the world test championship is a positive step, the loss of interest in different aspects of cricket be it bilateral ODIs or tests is lack of context. Once you have context, then you have interest.

 

[Aman]

The death of Test cricket is a inevitable, there are a handful of countries who actually make money from it and even then it's minuscule compared to what they can get from ODIs and T20s (Aus is the one exception, I think).

I just hope we can make use of this transition period to get a first mover advantage over other teams.

 

[AamirWarraich]

Exactly. I love Test cricket but it is an extremely niche sport. If cricket can address the balance between bat and ball, then there is still a future for 20 over and 50 over matches.

Life is simply moving too quickly and people no longer have time to watch Tests. How many lovers of Test cricket can claim to have watched every ball of a Test match from start to finish?

It will be a sad day but it is inevitable. I see it lasting for a maximum of 20-25 more years.

 

[Joseph Gomes]

Most people don't even care whether test exist or not. Nobody except a few hardcore weirdos watch test matches live outside Eng and Aus. I doubt current teenagers will even notice when test cricket vanishes.

 

[CadPakFan]

I don't understand how test matches used to be able to pull full houses and now all we see are empty stadiums left and right. How the world has changed.

 

[Joseph Gomes]

I don't understand how test matches used to be able to pull full houses and now all we see are empty stadiums left and right. How the world has changed.

A lot of it has to do with internet. Kids who grew up with internet in the 00s are adults now, and they have zero interest in test matches due to reduced attention span. Internet gives you instant gratification which is complete opposite to what tests are.

Tests survive in England and Aus because it's their national heritage. In other countries fans don't even know whether team play test magches at all . The test championship would be a massive flop as well, people simply don't care about long matches. Hell the only reason I don't find ODIs too long because I am 24. I am sure a 12 year old find ODIs boring. They can't even imagine what a test match would be like.

 

[todfod 11]

Test cricket need to be reduced.. Just too many useless pointless test matches being pkayed these days.

 

[Tusker]

Nobody has the time to follow a Test match for 5 days, best option would be to limit the no.of overs to max 60-70 overs an inngs and play it in 2-3 days most of it over Friday night and the weekend on spicy pitches. This is the best compromise to retain the essence of Test cricket which allows for a 2nd inngs comeback.

 

[sensible-indian-fan]

Nobody has the time to follow a Test match for 5 days, best option would be to limit the no.of overs to max 60-70 overs an inngs and play it in 2-3 days most of it over Friday night and the weekend on spicy pitches. This is the best compromise to retain the essence of Test cricket which allows for a 2nd inngs comeback.

Bingo. Fully agree with you.

This is the best option.

I would also bring in some rules to ensure test matches produces results to avoid pointless draws.

 

[sam_ahm]

Good post, agree with most of it except for the rest day part.

Tennis is played 48 weeks in a year with most of the time multiple tournaments in a week. All 4 Grand Slams and 11 masters get tremendous fan following. So overdose isn't a problem if matches are competitive and interesting. 5 days ain't a problem either if games are interesting. I can tell you most of us in India followed India-South Africa test series with great interest because the games were so close.

What no one wants to see is extremely one sided affairs where a team loses by a nammoth margin or tracks where 500-600 runs are getting scored.

 

[sam_ahm]

Test cricket needs to rid itself of certain plagues.

These include but are not limited to...

1) Teams preparing pitches that are advantageous to them but not giving visiting teams ample preparations and time.

2) There not being any distinction or pride in achieving a high ranking as they are quite meaningless as long as the H/A factor is being overlooked.

3) There should be ways for Test cricket to engage the audience for five days. No other sporting contest lasts that long. The only way I see it is by having quality teams competing against one another in balanced conditions.

4) Reduce the see-saw towards the batsmen by enforcing smaller bats, longer boundaries, more bouncers, and introduce a rest day in between Days 2 and 4.

I meant this post as good post above in my response.

 

[Tusker]

Bingo. Fully agree with you.

This is the best option.

I would also bring in some rules to ensure test matches produces results to avoid pointless draws.

The one idiotic rule that should be discarded is the pitched outside leg for lbw's. If its hitting the stumps its out no matter where it pitched and hit the pads inline or not. Simple as that and DRS used proactively by the 3rd Umpire.

 

[big_gamer007]

Some of the test series are really great.

Recent India vs SA was an enjoyable series even though we lost when we should have won.

What test cricket needs is series like England vs Australia 2005 ashes.. You need characters like warnie and KP.

Lively pitches, underdog winning, good weather, perfect balance between bat and ball.

With all the home teams winning inside 3 days whatever little people are left watching test cricket will also stop watching it.

 

[OneTip-OneHand]

In my case, for some weird reasons my interest in Test cricket has increased in last couple of years.Of course can’t watch it for all 5 days because of work and all.

If anything i have lost interest in these bilateral ODIs. T20Is are there for fun. 3-4 hours of game in the evening. Its a nice timepass.

 

[BlackShadow]

My interest in Test Cricket really peaked after India's 8-0 humiliation in 2012-13. Now I consider it the ultimate format to test a Cricketer's ability and a Test win gives me the most satisfaction as an Indian fan.

ODIs is something I follow mostly online while T20s isn't something I care about unless it is the World Cup or a RCB/CSK match.

 

[happydavy]

Die is a very strong word, for me the appropriate phrase is that I can't care less about test cricket. Any outdoor sport to generate excitement, needs to have the players running hard, sweating, giving it their all. That's why all outdoor sports like football, tennis, rugby, hockdy are watchable and exciting.

Here we have a game called test cricket, played over 5 days where there is a break taken after ever 2 hour session, where leaving balls outside offstump and bowling outside offstump are considered virtues, where players hardly break a sweat and which as a cricket fan I am supposed to enjoy by so called purists and why - because this is how it has been played for last 50 years. No thanks, I m better being a non purist but would watch something (T20/ODI) that I would enjoy and not because some people in 50s and 60s with microphones in their hands wants me to.

 

[Joseph Gomes]

Die is a very strong word, for me the appropriate phrase is that I can't care less about test cricket. Any outdoor sport to generate excitement, needs to have the players running hard, sweating, giving it their all. That's why all outdoor sports like football, tennis, rugby, hockdy are watchable and exciting.

Here we have a game called test cricket, played over 5 days where there is a break taken after ever 2 hour session, where leaving balls outside offstump and bowling outside offstump are considered virtues, where players hardly break a sweat and which as a cricket fan I am supposed to enjoy by so called purists and why - because this is how it has been played for last 50 years. No thanks, I m better being a non purist but would watch something (T20/ODI) that I would enjoy and not because some people in 50s and 60s with microphones in their hands wants me to.

To call test cricket a sport is a joke in itself. It's as much sport as chess or ludo.

 

[happydavy]

To call test cricket a sport is a joke in itself. It's as much sport as chess or ludo.

Agreed. Plus the constant whining and cribing that has become a part of test cricket. Fans are always going to crib but test cricket is the only so called sport where players keep whining about pitch being too green or too dry, ball swinging too much, ball bouncing too much, DRS saying ball hitting half of stump blah blah blah. There's very little of such complaints in T20.

 

[Junaids]

Nobody has the time to follow a Test match for 5 days, best option would be to limit the no.of overs to max 60-70 overs an inngs and play it in 2-3 days most of it over Friday night and the weekend on spicy pitches. This is the best compromise to retain the essence of Test cricket which allows for a 2nd inngs comeback.

Exactly.

Night Tests over 3 days on green tops or square turners, no innings allowed to go above 100 overs.

 

[Junaids]

The one idiotic rule that should be discarded is the pitched outside leg for lbw's. If its hitting the stumps its out no matter where it pitched and hit the pads inline or not. Simple as that and DRS used proactively by the 3rd Umpire.

What’s going on?

I agree with you 100% AGAIN!

 

[someone21]

The average test is a glorified friendly match. Take the recent SL vs SA game. A borefest, irrelevance, noncompetitive match. There are rare good test matches, as the common or more often are these glorified friendly matches.

Its a tragic that we are still playing test cricket. It speaks of elitism when ppl call it "real" cricket.

 

[HitWicket]

The one idiotic rule that should be discarded is the pitched outside leg for lbw's. If its hitting the stumps its out no matter where it pitched and hit the pads inline or not.

That would completely change the entire current concept of bowling plans. You'd end up with teams packed with leg spinners pitching the ball outside leg with a packed leg side field.

 

[GoUgandaCranes]

The fact of the matter is that test cricket started way back in the 19th century and life had a different rhythm to it and test cricket prospered within that era. However the Victorian era is long gone and one of its last remnants, test cricket is basically on its last legs to remain relevant to a changing audience (the other few include but are not limited to Indian Railway, Pakistan Post, Indo-Pak beurecracy which includes Civil Service exams etc.). We simply do not have the time, energy, or attention span to watch batsman leave balls outside the offstump and batsmen like Azhar Ali / Pujara look like relics from a bygone era.

Test cricket cannot and should not remain the main format of cricket. That would be just wrong to try to save something that is not a good fit anymore in the modern society.

Basically, if done properly, it's still an amazing product and should be kept as a novelty element. Would the general public want to watch two competitive teams playing hard cricket regardless of where it is being played? Yes, a major yes. Not all of that will be from the ground, but it will be over the internet following sites that provide ball-by-ball commentary, end of the day highlights, cricket forums, and social media.

T20 should be the main format now domestically and even in some cases internationally for smaller countries. The money generated from the T20 leagues should and could be invested in test cricket if a country wishes to.

And if it dies out totally, we should mourn over it, for when it did thrive, it was a noble product that gave millions of people billions of moments to cherish but evolution takes it course and that's how it is.

 

[Tusker]

That would completely change the entire current concept of bowling plans. You'd end up with teams packed with leg spinners pitching the ball outside leg with a packed leg side field.

It's not easy to manage that as batsmen will adapt and score on the now vacant offside. However if it becomes too negative laws can be introduced to limit fielders on the legside.

 

[someone21]

Test cricket fundamental problem is that it's not time bound. All sports including T20s/ODI, football, basketball have limited minutes/overs and that brings urgency, and a ticking clock. The latter is key, which makes a sport enjoyable. There is none in test cricket.

 

[Hasan123]

If you don't like test cricket don't watch it. Happy with the current format but they need to make more sporting pitches get more of an even contest.

 

[Tusker]

What’s going on?

I agree with you 100% AGAIN!

Hell must have frozen over ... can you check?

 

[Slog]

Test cricket has apparently been dying since 1975 yet it is still alive...

 

[Syed1]

Only Eng vs Aus/Ind/Pak/SA and Aus vs Eng/Ind/SA/NZ are exciting series. The rest of the test series are dry and boring.

 

[Joseph Gomes]

Test cricket has apparently been dying since 1975 yet it is still alive...

No it's not. Tests are already dead in WI and SL, and dying in NZ.