Test Cricket - Is there genuine reason to be concerned?

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AFCSR6

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I think most cricket fans will agree that Test Cricket is 'proper' cricket and personally, unless Sunderland are playing, I would watch a Test match with any teams involved over any other sport. For the last ten years or so there has been the constant chat that Test Cricket is under threat with empty stadiums everywhere except England and when it's the Ashes in Oz, and players apparently preferring to chase the T20 $ over playing Test cricket for their Country, yet we've still got it, all be it with empty stadiums in WI, SA, India etc. which is bloody depressing. So is there any real possibility that Test Cricket will die out, or is it just conjecture and scare mongering from the press to sell papers? Be interested to see a proper debate about this with people's thoughts.
 


If Test Cricket dies, cricket dies with it. It's a massive problem though. The teams @AFCSR6 mentioned are a real problem, I'd even add SL to that and maybe India to a degree. Depending who the visitors are.

Watching Pakistan v Australia and it's clear that Pakistan need to return to playing at home. It's way beyond cricketing reasons of course but the Dubai situation isn't helping Pakistan or Test Cricket.

Worrying too is that the upcoming Pakistan v NZ series has no television contract determined either. There just isn't seemingly the interest.
 
chunkylover53 said:
I think its slowing dying and that pains me

The ECB are hardly helping by charging through the f***ing roof either
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aye, ticket prices are a disgrace like.

i'm not sure - as long as money rolls in via sky and that i think it will be fine, i often wonder what will happen to football when it gets to the point that people stop going, will it still be a massive global telly market if played in front of empty stadiums?
 
Twisted said:
aye, ticket prices are a disgrace like.

i'm not sure - as long as money rolls in via sky and that i think it will be fine, i often wonder what will happen to football when it gets to the point that people stop going, will it still be a massive global telly market if played in front of empty stadiums?
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There is interest in England, but if there is no one to play its fucked

Look at the level now, players turn up begrudgingly for early series' due to the hit and giggle shit in India
 
chunkylover53 said:
There is interest in England, but if there is no one to play its fucked

Look at the level now, players turn up begrudgingly for early series' due to the hit and giggle shit in India
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Problem is people need to embrace 20/20 cricket and realise if done right there is room in the calendar for 20/20 cricket and test cricket,both need to support each other.

The IPL is not hit and giggle shit it is a massive business as well as been highly entertaining.

20/20 is here to stay no getting a way from it and it is certainly not to blame for test cricket getting less popular.

That was happening for years watching test match bore draws in India,Pakistan etc was tedious.

My opinion is cricket needed 20/20.

The 4 day county game was watched by one man and his dog and 20/20 has given some counties very needed revenue.

The Ashes should always be and always will be the pinnacle of sport and rightly so,but like I say cricket fans around the world love watching 20/20 cricket and that is fact.

By ignoring that fact and calling it hit and giggle will not change that fact.
 
Voice of fair play said:
Problem is people need to embrace 20/20 cricket and realise if done right there is room in the calendar for 20/20 cricket and test cricket,both need to support each other.

The IPL is not hit and giggle shit it is a massive business as well as been highly entertaining.

20/20 is here to stay no getting a way from it and it is certainly not to blame for test cricket getting less popular.

That was happening for years watching test match bore draws in India,Pakistan etc was tedious.

My opinion is cricket needed 20/20.

The 4 day county game was watched by one man and his dog and 20/20 has given some counties very needed revenue.

The Ashes should always be and always will be the pinnacle of sport and rightly so,but like I say cricket fans around the world love watching 20/20 cricket and that is fact.

By ignoring that fact and calling it hit and giggle will not change that fact.
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Good post, and fully agreed. I was being a bit facetious
 
Voice of fair play said:
cricket fans around the world love watching 20/20 cricket and that is fact
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I dinnar like. I never watch the IPL, and I'll watch domestic T20 if Durham are playing, or it's a final, but I wouldn't sit down and watch an England T20 game like I would a Test where I'll try and watch as much of the whole 5 days as possible.

As for the ticket prices, well you can't really blame the ECB; it's supply and demand and the demand is there, the prices are high but the stadiums are full, so the prices aren't lily to drop. In SA you can get all 5 days for a lot less than a day at the Test over here and the stadiums are still empty.
 
AFCSR6 said:
I dinnar like. I never watch the IPL, and I'll watch domestic T20 if Durham are playing, or it's a final, but I wouldn't sit down and watch an England T20 game like I would a Test where I'll try and watch as much of the whole 5 days as possible.

As for the ticket prices, well you can't really blame the ECB; it's supply and demand and the demand is there, the prices are high but the stadiums are full, so the prices aren't lily to drop. In SA you can get all 5 days for a lot less than a day at the Test over here and the stadiums are still empty.
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Not recently they haven't been.
 
AFCSR6 said:
I dinnar like. I never watch the IPL, and I'll watch domestic T20 if Durham are playing, or it's a final, but I wouldn't sit down and watch an England T20 game like I would a Test where I'll try and watch as much of the whole 5 days as possible.

As for the ticket prices, well you can't really blame the ECB; it's supply and demand and the demand is there, the prices are high but the stadiums are full, so the prices aren't lily to drop. In SA you can get all 5 days for a lot less than a day at the Test over here and the stadiums are still empty.
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Yeah fair enough mate,but think it depends who England are playing.

Like I say most people would rather watch the Ashes than any 20/20 cricket me included,however while you personally might not watch the IPL,millions do and like I say I find it great to watch.

I would certainly watch a 20/20 county game rather than a 4 day county game.

I actually thing the true sign of a really good cricketer is the cricketer who can play all forms of the game to a good standard and adapt his game accordingly.

I definitely think there is room for both in the calendar if done right and don't blame players for been attracted to the money in the IPL that is only natural
 
T20 is also making some impact in pushing the game to new markets. The Russian-language version of Eurosport 2 showed the World Club Championship T20 (or whatever it was called) and a while back it had the World Cup and even the qualifiers (I found out by chance, looking for the Bundesliga, and got a bit of Ireland vs Afghanistan). No test cricket has ever been shown free-to-air in Russia, AFAIK.

Does it matter? Well, for Russian cricket it does. First because it creates a coherent Russian-language vocab to talk about the game (this sounds a bit weird to me because it borrows from other Russian sports as well as from English, so a 'podacha' (delivery, but in football a pass) might lead to 'ochki' (runs, but more usually points) or an 'aut' (wicket, from 'out')). But it means that people who have some interest in the game start to have a means of talking about it and explaining it. This helps to recruit new players and finally we have a small cricket venue in Moscow (I wrote about Russian cricket here a while ago - http://rbth.com/sport/2014/04/29/cricket_in_russia_a_search_for_new_boundaries_36295.html).

The same process has helped to develop Russian rugby. It used to be a non-event here, but now the national team takes itself reasonably seriously and aims to reach the World Cup every four years (just missed out this time). That's been backed up by showing Tri-Nations games on free-to-air and, again, creating a Russian rugby language. But I don't believe it would be happening without an available range of relative short, self-contained events to attract an audience. Give it time, and you might start attracting people to 5-day tests, but it won't happen overnight.

And that leads to another problem within the ICB - when do developing nations get a chance to play longer games? The Ban-Zim series at the moment is a rare chance for either team to actually win some tests (and with Ban 59/4 chasing 101, it could be an exciting finale), but where do the associates get a chance to play regular tests against each other, never mind Ban, Zim or a 'proper' nation? If you don't promote a culture of 5-day cricket in other countries, it won't just arrive by itself.
 
To me the answer is obviously yes, there is a reason to be concerned. T20 and specifically is too big a financial draw for players and for national associations. The money that is in Indian cricket has made India the top dog and unfortunately they seem to being their position lately in a bullying way.

And of course West Indians are now in a very difficult situation with a possibility that their association will go bust.

T20 is the tail that is wagging the cricketing dog and the ECB seemingly don't have a clue how to respond. They want the money but they don't seem to be able to generate it in the way the IPL and the Big Bash has. Personally I find it uninteresting, not much more than taking a chance and having a swing and win or lose it doesn't much matter.

During the last summer I got the distinct impression that the Indians in particular but also the Sri Lankans to an extent felt that the Test matches were a bit of a chore and just something they had to get through for the sake of the real deal which was the one-dayers, I reckon unless Test Cricket is given a bit of care and attention fairly soon it will fade away and be seen as the same curiosity that croquet or real tennis is.

NOMOREFALSEDAWNS said:
Put it back on Terrestrial tv increasing the exposure and scrap 2020.
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I wish T20 would disappear but it won't. There's too much money to be made, apart from maybe in England where I'm guessing it makes useful money but nothing like the IPL or the Big Bash.

If I was going to do anything with regards terrestrial TV I wouldn't touch Test cricket but I would put Country Cricket on there. If there could be a regional half-hour programme showing what Durham had been doing and looking ahead to the matches next week then I think there'd be a fair chance that it could boost attendances at C-L-S and a boost in interest in Country Cricket would follow through to interest in Tests.
 
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Bri said:
To me the answer is obviously yes, there is a reason to be concerned. T20 and specifically is too big a financial draw for players and for national associations. The money that is in Indian cricket has made India the top dog and unfortunately they seem to being their position lately in a bullying way.

And of course West Indians are now in a very difficult situation with a possibility that their association will go bust.

T20 is the tail that is wagging the cricketing dog and the ECB seemingly don't have a clue how to respond. They want the money but they don't seem to be able to generate it in the way the IPL and the Big Bash has. Personally I find it uninteresting, not much more than taking a chance and having a swing and win or lose it doesn't much matter.

During the last summer I got the distinct impression that the Indians in particular but also the Sri Lankans to an extent felt that the Test matches were a bit of a chore and just something they had to get through for the sake of the real deal which was the one-dayers, I reckon unless Test Cricket is given a bit of care and attention fairly soon it will fade away and be seen as the same curiosity that croquet or real tennis is.


I wish T20 would disappear but it won't. There's too much money to be made, apart from maybe in England where I'm guessing it makes useful money but nothing like the IPL or the Big Bash.

If I was going to do anything with regards terrestrial TV I wouldn't touch Test cricket but I would put Country Cricket on there. If there could be a regional half-hour programme showing what Durham had been doing and looking ahead to the matches next week then I think there'd be a fair chance that it could boost attendances at C-L-S and a boost in interest in Country Cricket would follow through to interest in Tests.
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It beats me that people do not seem to grasp some of the fantastic skills on display in 20/20 cricket.

It is not have a swing and does not matter whether you win or lose.

The passion you see in the IPL for example shows that winning or losing is taken very seriously.

The all round skills involved in 20/20 cricket are a joy to watch and people enjoy watching them it is simple as that.
 
Voice of fair play said:
It beats me that people do not seem to grasp some of the fantastic skills on display in 20/20 cricket.

It is not have a swing and does not matter whether you win or lose.

The passion you see in the IPL for example shows that winning or losing is taken very seriously.

The all round skills involved in 20/20 cricket are a joy to watch and people enjoy watching them it is simple as that.
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that is your opinion though, and i feel just as passionately in the other way. it is on domestic telly but i just can't watch it. seeing them heave the kitchen sink, spin round and fall on their arse whilst the ball gets hoyed down wide on the leg side is not my idea of good cricket.

Bri said:
The money that is in Indian cricket has made India the top dog and unfortunately they seem to being their position lately in a bullying way.
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TBF it is exactly the same in international football and erm.. wait aminute, there goes my point :neutral:
 
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