Why don't we promote Test Cricket?

[greatest]

Like it or not Pakistan is now an ordinary Test team and with the attitude of players, management and public towards Test Cricket the future also looks bleak. No matter how many ICC tournaments you have in your kitty, at the end of the day history will remember you on your test performances.

While countries like England and Australia and now India have always promoted a culture of promoting the longer format, it's history and traditions...great vintages Test performances and wins are made into myths and legends, Pakistan despite having a rich Test culture and memorable Test wins (1954 Oval, Sydney 1977, 1987 wins in England and India and being toe to toe against the West Indies in 3 Test Series under Imran) these achievements have never been celebrated or talked about either in the media or press. Because of this no doubt our younger generation (players and public) doesn't takes Tests seriously.

It looks like for us the only cricket achievement was winning the 1992 World Cup and winning World cups is all that matters. Well, other nations do want to win it as well but they also want to be strong Test nations and want to be remembered in the same breath as West Indies of the 70s/80s, Waugh's 2000's team and Bradman's 1948 Invincibles.

A nations which didn't value it's past has no future.

 

[hamzie]

because t20 and league cricket is the future whether we like it or not

 

[greatest]

because t20 and league cricket is the future whether we like it or not

If that's the case then we should be happy producing cricketers with limited skills and ability.

 

[Markhor]

Like it or not Pakistan is now an ordinary Test team and with the attitude of players, management and public towards Test Cricket the future also looks bleak. No matter how many ICC tournaments you have in your kitty, at the end of the day history will remember you on your test performances.

While countries like England and Australia and now India have always promoted a culture of promoting the longer format, it's history and traditions...great vintages Test performances and wins are made into myths and legends, Pakistan despite having a rich Test culture and memorable Test wins (1954 Oval, Sydney 1977, 1987 wins in England and India and being toe to toe against the West Indies in 3 Test Series under Imran) these achievements have never been celebrated or talked about either in the media or press. Because of this no doubt our younger generation (players and public) doesn't takes Tests seriously.

It looks like for us the only cricket achievement was winning the 1992 World Cup and winning World cups is all that matters. Well, other nations do want to win it as well but they also want to be strong Test nations and want to be remembered in the same breath as West Indies of the 70s/80s, Waugh's 2000's team and Bradman's 1948 Invincibles.

A nations which didn't value it's past has no future.

Although T20s are more commercially lucrative and represents cricket's future - as long as Test cricket survives we still have a duty to give it our best. However not only have we failed to promote Tests, we've actively discouraged a Test cricket culture !

Pitches: Even after 70 years we haven't fixed our dreadful dull pitches. Prior to this Pindi Test, 18 of 24 Tests between PAK and ENG in PAK were drawn. After ENG's first victory in PAK in 1961, the following 11 Tests were all drawn ! We are lucky ICC demerit points for pitches didn't exist then.

Grounds: Have barely evolved over the years with minimal facilities for fans. There isn't even proper seating at Pindi so we've the embarrassing spectacle of shaadi chairs being used. Compare this to the grass banks in SAF or NZL where families sit together, picnic, and kids play cricket.

Timing: Everyone knows the days are shorter in PAK around Nov-Dec, particularly in Northern Pakistan, yet we still schedule home Tests this time of year meaning we always lose overs.

Broadcasts: Now marred by crass commercialism - yes thank our commercial partners but Pakistan's the only Test nation in the world who cut to planted audience members mid-over to plug sponsors like Tapal Tea and Sensodyne. It's cheesy and embarrassing.

Selections: Our management over the years have devalued Test cricket by literally plucking players from nowhere and giving them Test caps despite little FC experience or performances, e.g. 16 yr old Hasan Raza in 1996; Naseem and Musa in 2019; Rauf; Zahid Mehmood (who averaged 45 this season in QEA !)

Ramiz Raja meanwhile launches his pet project - a pyjama T20 junior league which PCB bears full cost since the corporates showed zero interest. His solution for our dire surfaces is drop-in pitches as it escapes him that IND, SL and BAN produce perfectly good Test wickets without expensive drop-ins. PSL will occupy the prime slot for our home season, and home Tests will again become an irrelevance as it did pre-2009 once the emotional dramabaaz of "bringing cricket home" subsides.

 

[DeadlyVenom]

We can argue about various different metrics or the availability of facilities but the harsh reality is that we do not have the cricketing intelligence to play test cricket at the highest level consistently.

We have a team of low-iq individuals who do not have the sense to understand the rigours of test cricket or the ability to read the game.

There is no point promoting test cricket because beyond a loyal and small bunch of fans there is no appetite in the country to appreciate or understand the game unless its a very superficial level.

The lack of understanding from fans is most evident when instead of congratulating our sides dominance in the UAE most fans chose to deride it as tuk tuk, and now they comment on that era as being defensive and contributing to our state today, despite it being one of the very few times we have dominated the rankings.

Despite our delusions that we have a factory of bowlers we have not produced a single good bowler in the test format who has remained consistent for a long period of time. Even when we had good bowlers we still got rolled over in Australia and often crumbled at home too.

Our test cricket flourished initially because we have no other sport and test cricket wasn't that intense in its earlier days of largely unfit players and no analytics. Our cricket was sustained by a regular pipeline of players playing county who then brought back some discipline, creative thinking and developed some cricketing intelligence.

Once that pipeline dried up and cricket became more professional it was the death knell for Pakistan.

We should abandon this format and focus on LOI where we can win the odd game/cup with individual brilliance. As a nation we do not have intelligence to play the game at the highest level and its dying anyway, so there is really no point trying to develop it.

When the raw ingredients do not exist, nor is there an appetite for the end product there is no need to waste time effort and money promoting it.

 

[jnaveen1980]

because t20 and league cricket is the future whether we like it or not

Agree with League cricket. Not about international t20. League crickets compete with international T20 not ODI or Test

 

[Saj]

Because the golden goose is the PSL.

Plain and simple, the priority for many at the Board and involved in Pakistan cricket is T20 cricket and in particular the PSL.

 

[indianpanacea]

Problem is with not having a separate test team..Every successful cricketing nation viz England,Australia have separate test team and white ball team with very few exceptionally high talent players playing both formats..Among current team i can say that imam,Rizwan,Salman don't fit as these will perform on only Pakistan dead wickets and all these will be few ball wonders in SENA and again will raise the same Pakistan batting collapse.it is Shame that player like shaan isn't playing who was best batter in English County season continuously from many season .
Azhar Ali is also past his prime and may be replaced with Asad Shafiq who has couple of more years in him.against newzealand series team should be like
Shaan
Abdullah
Usman salahuddin
Babar
Saud
Sarfaraz
Mubasir khan
Abrar
M.Abbas
Naseem
Hassan ali
Reserves
Kamran Ghulam
Tayyab tahir
Mir hamza

 

[U$ofA]

Because the golden goose is the PSL.

Plain and simple, the priority for many at the Board and involved in Pakistan cricket is T20 cricket and in particular the PSL.

PSL is not a golden goose for the PCB. It is for the franchises. But not for the PCB. From what I have read, the franchises take almost all the money, while the PCB is left holding pretty much an empty bag.

I don't think the PCB makes much or any money from the PSL. Which make PCB's promotion of PSL that much more intriguing.

On the other hand, PCB has full control over tests.

 

[Suleiman]

It’s promoted fine publicly. We got good crowds throughout the test even on a weekday.

But yeah on a player basis it’s promoted poorly. Any aira ghaira can make it to the test side by doing nothing. Haris has zero experience in FC and he got a chance. Zahid has garbage stats and he got a chance too. On top of being on the bench for part of the FC season.

Neither would get a shot in England, India or Australia with the lack of experience (H) and pathetic stats (Z).

Tests are also where deficiencies in technique are most prominent. Pakistani batsmen are some of the worst technique wise. There’s no standard. We never had a culture around technique, save for a handful of batsmen, some of them going on to do great (Inzi, Anwar, Zaheer). It’s always been a do it yourself- which is good to a certain extent but you miss out on a lot of basics of batsmanship.

After the 90s to I guess early 2000s we stopped producing technically proficient batsmen. Asad Shafiq and Umar Akmal had solid techniques (Umar when he started off) but are mental midgets- which is problem #2: very weak and feeble mentality.

Before someone says English batsmen don’t have technique either. You’re dead wrong. They have the basics down. In that run fest of a game they plundered plenty of boundaries along the ground picking gaps, it wasn’t simply about slogging across the line.

We either produce offensive batsmen who are most of the time sloggers, or dead bats who take 20-30 balls for their first run. Both are poor ideologies. You need to be looking to score always with proper cricketing shots.

 

[Kianig89]

Because we don't have world class players to promote Test Cricket a solid red ball team require 5-6 World class players to attract viewers and sponsors sadly apart from Babar and Shaheen rest of Pakistan players are all Avg or Below Avg.

 

[Saj]

I recall speaking with the head coach of one of the domestic teams shortly before the PSL started.

He said to me that watch how the PSL becomes the number one priority and how this affects first-class cricket, selection and players approach and priorities.

The golden goose seems to be the be-all and end-all for Pakistan cricket.

 

[MenInG]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1689180824426405888

 

[BouncerGuy]

CA chief Hockley advocates minimum three-Test series

Cricket Australia boss believes the proliferation of two-Test series on the schedule needs to be addressed

Cricket Australia boss Nick Hockley will urge other nations to set a three-match minimum for Test series in a bid to fend off fears over the format's possible demise.

In a dire summer for Test cricket, South Africa will send a second-string side to New Zealand this month while West Indies will bring seven rookies on their tour of Australia.

The reality of big-money Twenty20 leagues continues to loom large over the sport, with an ever-growing list of players prioritising the shorter format over Test cricket.

South Africa's governing body have ordered contracted players to feature in their lucrative SA20 competition rather than tour New Zealand.

Hockley on Thursday labelled that situation a wake-up call for the sport, and was adamant more needed to be done to avoid similar scheduling clashes.

A firm backer of Test cricket, Hockley has long believed the World Test Championship can help breathe life back into the red-ball format.

But to do that, he says Test series should include at least three matches – backing similar calls from Pat Cummins and national team coach Andrew McDonald to give greater context.

More than half of all series in the International Cricket Council's (ICC) future tours programme (FTP) for 2023-2027 are scheduled for two Tests.

Of series not involving at least one of India, England or Australia, none are scheduled for three Tests or more.

"The preference is a minimum three-Test series, so we'll keep advocating and championing that," Hockley said on SEN.

"There is work to be done on the FTP, and it's really cementing the World Test Championship.

"Really advocating for three-Test series as an absolute minimum.

"And then, as best as we possibly can, making sure that with domestic T20 competitions we minimise the overlap for countries where it is an important source of revenue."

Hockley is adamant Test cricket remains a priority for all countries, but economics remains a big issue.

Players representing nations other than India, England and Australia are paid less by their boards, increasing the lure of T20 franchise deals.

South Africa's current situation comes after years of financial difficulty within the sport in the country, with the SA20 emerging as a money-spinning saviour when launched last year.

All six teams in the SA20 are owned by Indian Premier League franchise holders, with a similar model in the USA's Major League Cricket.

There are fears of players ultimately signing year-long deals with franchises to appear in multiple competitions.

"(The South Africa situation) has been a wake-up call for everyone," Hockley said. "The role of T20, bringing new kids and new people into the game can't be underestimated.

"Their T20 comp as compared to the Big Bash, we're in our 13th edition. They're in their second. Theirs is quite a short comp.

"The belief is that (franchise T20 cricket and Tests) can co-exist. But this has shone a light. And certainly, we'll be working with the ICC through scheduling groups to make sure those types of clashes don't manifest."
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CA chief Hockley advocates minimum three-Test series | cricket.com.au

Cricket Australia boss believes the proliferation of two-Test series on the schedule needs to be…

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