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| Sunday, 09 April 2006 |
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Features |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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A GOOGLY FOR CRICKET LOVERS: If they wanted us to see them, why call them 'tests' anyway? by Rikaza Hassan
"The women don't seem to like test matches and hardly ever make an appearance. I'd rather watch the match with my friends at home on TV. There's no point hanging around in an almost empty stadium if I'm not even going to get to check out some chicks -- let alone get some play," says Malinda (25) a travel executive. A Test match is the classical form of the game. But, the five days of alcoholism required is just not plausible any more. "Imagine getting drunk for five days straight. We'll all probably get kicked out of our homes. Coming home crawling with someone else' puke on your shirt is forgiven if it's only for one day," says Shanaka sans embarrassment. "There's no fun for me and a lot of people, in watching a cricket match if you don't get wasted." What putrid thoughts! As if a test match wasn't testing enough without Tequila and Tonic?
Test matches require much more mental stamina from the players than in a one-day, while literally putting to test, the strength of the captains and their temperament. Finally, test matches are where you get to see the most exquisite of cricketing shots, the most stunning of deliveries, where techniques are perfected and put on the shelf for display. Basically, it is only at a test match that the real talents of the individual players can be witnessed. So why don't Sri Lankans go watch Test-matches any more? Test matches take too long drawn. Nowadays everyone and his aunt is working or going to school and tuition class after class. "I wake up in the wee hours of the morning and come back home late, six days a week. I only have time to check what happened on the news before I hit the sack. Neither me nor most other people can afford to take time off work to go spend a couple of days to watch a test match. I'll get fired and my boss will hire a guy who doesn't like cricket. This is one of the reason that they brought in the one-days anyways," says Dhanushka, 26 who works in the advertising sector. "I like test matches. It's just not possible for me to go watch it though, " is a commoner refrain. Test matches are boring when compared to the intense, pressured, action packed one-dayers. "Sure test matches are boring," says Lakshika (21), a student who claims to have all the time in the world to go watch matches. "I go watch one-dayers whenever I can round up my friends, but test matches are not worth the effort. They just go on and on, you just don't want to go put up with it. One-days on the other hand are interesting throughout, the pressure gets to you and you're at the edge of the seat all excited wondering what will happen next. Test matches definitely don't give you the same feeling." It's easier to watch the 'highlight package' on TV. "When you have the best of the day's match presented to you in a highly interesting thirty minute presentation, why would you spend your day watching the match even if you could," asks Chandima. "Test matches showcase the hidden talents of the players, but it means you have to spend days to see their true potential. Instead when you've got the finest presented to you together with expert analysis in less than even one tenth of the time, who wouldn't take it?" When Wasim Akram during his recent visit brought to our attention the meagre numbers of spectators at test matches, it was indeed an insult to a nation which prides itself on being a cricket crazy, where common problems disappear with every doosra. It however seems that the commercialized one-day matches with sponsorship deals galore, have taken over the stage of cricket, at least in this country. It would seem that Sri Lankans are not as die-hard fans of cricket as they would like to portray themselves to be. But, just ask yourself, would you have been able to bear witness to the spectacular bowling of Mohamed Asif, the potential of Farveez Mahroof who blundered through the one-days held in Australia, the capacity of Upul Tharanga if not for the Test match being played in Sri Lanka presently? |
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| Produced by Lake House |
Test matches don't attract female spectators. Apparently the drought in
terms of the opposite sex, is a very discouraging factor for the local male
cricket fans. 
A test match is testing, even though it's needless to say. It involves
five days of toiling under the sun, putting up with the rain for the two
battling teams. It involves five days of continued drunkenness for the
majority of the spectators. And while the bowling, batting and line all play
a bigger part in a test match, the pitch is perhaps the most crucial element
though so important for a one-day game. 
