The future of Test Cricket

Sri Lanka's recent 3-0 Test series victory over Australia, one of the most formidable teams in any form of cricket, has reinvigorated interest in Test cricket. Sri Lanka Cricket has reported record gate collections at all three Test venues - Pallekele (Kandy), Galle and SSC (Colombo). Although Sri Lanka's winning attitude and streak may have contributed to this success at the box office, one cannot deny that there is a general resurgence in crowd interest in this purest form of Cricket which is now more than 100 years old.

One factor drawing crowds to Test matches now is that most Test pitches are now result-oriented, with drab draws mostly a thing of the past. People like to see a result in any match and the home crowd usually likes it when their team wins. With at least three Test series now being played worldwide - Sri Lanka vs Australia, West Indies vs India and England vs Pakistan, we have seen fairly good crowds and television audiences.

We hope that in the future too, Test matches held in Sri Lanka and elsewhere will draw similar crowds in sharp contrast to the earlier situation where the stadiums were mostly empty. This is even more distressing for the worldwide live television coverage, which essentially depends on crowd reactions to add colour to the visuals and commentary. Besides, a stadium filled to capacity is every sportsman's dream as it makes playing much more rewarding.

Spectator interest

Going forward, there are many other steps that respective cricket boards can do to make watching Test cricket more entertaining and enriching experience. Interestingly, Sri Lanka Cricket chief Thilanga Sumathipala has called for four-day Tests to add more excitement to the game.

His suggestion also ties up with another new experiment in Test cricket - day/night Tests which could be played as soon as next year. It could revive spectator interest in Tests, the same way day-night ODI matches increased audiences for the 50 Overs game. Right now, with 90 Overs per day into five, a Test match has 450 Overs. With night Test cricket, it might be possible to play at least another 45 minutes-one hour of cricket on all four days and make up for lost time. Thus teams can play the same amount of cricket in a lesser number of days.

This proposal has several advantages, with the caveat that it will not be possible to play night cricket at all venues. However, where night cricket is held even on weekdays, people might be able to allocate their free time to go to the ground and watch the cricket. Even the season tickets can be priced attractively for four days, rather than five days.

The other important factor is that it may prevent player burnout and fatigue. This way, the players also have a minimum of three days for rest and travel, before the next Test match. It will also be easier for the television production companies which have to move tons of equipment between far-flung venues.

Death knell

A Test championship, as proposed by several countries, could also drive interest in the game, with all 10 countries vying to take the crown. A Test series played in a more competitive atmosphere could help push up ticket and TV sales. However, a proposal to have a two-tier system for Test cricket, opposed in principle by the Asian cricketing powers, may sound the death knell for the game.

Under this system, there will be seven 'Top Tier' teams and five 'Bottom Tier' teams. There are ten full member countries, from which seven would play 'Top Tier' Cricket, while the other three, plus two other emerging nations, will join the 'Tier B'. This is, in cricketing parlance, just not cricket because it talks about inequality - ideally, all countries must be on a level playing field.

Instead of driving interest in the game, TV broadcasters and sponsors are likely to leave the bottom-rung teams, ruining cricket itself. Worse, the top-rung teams will most probably play each other at every given opportunity, thereby depriving the smaller teams of any big fixtures.

Lack of diversity

Sri Lanka would not have come up the ladder if it was not given an opportunity play against the big-league nations. Likewise, if the cricket big wigs deny more games to the likes of emerging Afghanistan and Ireland, cricket itself will suffer due to lack of diversity and exposure. In this respect, Cricket must take a cue from another sport that once had a similar footprint - rugby. Today, rugby has become virtually a worldwide sport whereas cricket is languishing in a few countries with associate nations given hardly any chance or funds to develop.

In fact, at the next Rugby World Cup in Japan, 19 teams will take part while its cricket equivalent to be played the same year will only have 10 (!) teams - eight Test playing nations plus two qualifying nations. This is a retrograde step if ever there was one. Clearly, the International Cricket Council (ICC) must take stock of this situation and strive to popularise cricket especially in China, Europe and the Americas. Only global expansion can save cricket.

Shorter version

This is where T20 cricket comes in. It is hard to think that any one in a country that is just beginning to come to terms with cricket will want to sit through four or five days of Test cricket. They need a more exciting, much shorter version of the game to get started. The answer lies in Twenty20 cricket, which finishes in 3-4 hours. This version of the game was used recently to popularise cricket in the United States which had a flourishing cricket culture before baseball took hold. The three T20 matches were played on iconic baseball grounds and attracted a lot of Americans too, which augurs well for the game there.

There are, of course, fears that T20 could spell the end of Test and even One Day (50 Overs) cricket in the more established countries. Sponsors and broadcasters like this version because it literally gives "more bangs for your bucks" but at the end of the day, it lacks the finesse and character of Test cricket where all exceptional players have honed their skills. But to be frank, T20 cricket at domestic level such as IPL and KFC Big Bash have led to resurgence in domestic as well as international cricket due to the involvement of international stars.

There is also the danger that cricket could be commercialized beyond recognition thanks to T20 cricket, though cricket needs sponsorship and TV rights funds to survive. It is a tightrope walk for cricket administrators the world over, who have to ensure that the purity of Test Cricket survives every storm.