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Strauss fears for the future of test cricket

BoyBrumby

Englishman
From The Guardian.

England's double Ashes-winning skipper (:cool:) who has just helmed his side to the number 1 position (:cool:) says the longest form of the game is under threat from its abbreviated offspring.

He points to dwindling attendances (outside of Blighty), England facing South Africa over just three tests next summer having previously signed an agreement that future series between the two nations would be contested over five games & the postponement/cancellation of the proposed 2013 test championship.

He might be an unlikely revolutionary, but it's hard to disagree with Sir Andrew (it's only a matter of time now) and refreshing someone in his position choses to speak out rather than tow the party line, as the captains of some other nations always seem to. No names, no pack drill.
 

Cabinet96

Global Moderator
Test cricket will, to die hard fans, always be the number 1 format. It's just hard for non cricket fanatics to take a liking to it because it's so slow. Whenever polls are done asking which format is the best, tests always come out with about 90% of the vote. It'll do fine.
 

Furball

Evil Scotsman
He's absolutely right about England-South Africa series. A lot was made over the deal struck between the ECB and CSA giving series between the two countries "icon" status; yet when England toured South Africa the following winter one of the Tests was dropped for reasons which I can't remember, and next summer we've got the farce of an ODI series vs Australia and the Olympics apparently squeezing the calendar too much to have anything other than a 3 match series.

Gideon Haigh in his Ashes 2011 book makes an excellent point about how a 5 Test series is a true test (pun intended) of everything about 2 sides, and it's a shame that only the Ashes is now competed for over 5 Tests. India's scheduling of more Test matches in 2010 was a positive move but it was a move borne entirely out of concern for their number 1 ranking; the cricket watching public was massively short-changed in their series with South Africa the way the two Tests panned out, with each side taking turns to dish out a hammering. A 3rd, 4th and 5th Test of similar quality would have been epic viewing.
 

G.I.Joe

International Coach
Strauss wouldn't fear for the future of Test cricket as much if he were any good at the shorter formats.

Yeah, Burn! :cool:
 

Daemon

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This reminds me, why is it that Strauss bowls at least 10% of the overs in a test match on ICC 2010?
 

wpdavid

Hall of Fame Member
Strauss wouldn't fear for the future of Test cricket as much if he were any good at the shorter formats.

Yeah, Burn! :cool:
:laugh:

Funnyish but regrettably untrue. He was OK in the 50-over game, and has only stopped playing them through retirement rather than being dropped. Not a world beater, obviously, but good enough to hold a place down in England's side if he still wanted to.
 

G.I.Joe

International Coach
:laugh:

Funnyish but regrettably untrue. He was OK in the 50-over game, and has only stopped playing them through retirement rather than being dropped. Not a world beater, obviously, but good enough to hold a place down in England's side if he still wanted to.
Fair enough if you think he's deserving of a place in the ODI lineup. IMO, he isn't. Then there's the T20. People have a way of eyeing the pie differently if they're also getting a slice of it.
 

Redbacks

International Captain
Gideon Haigh in his Ashes 2011 book makes an excellent point about how a 5 Test series is a true test (pun intended) of everything about 2 sides.
I would have been happy with 3 test :cool:. Actually, imagine if the series had been drawn 1-1, rather than the mauling that was deserved, it would have been a travesty of cricket justice.
 

Cabinet96

Global Moderator
Exactly. 2 more tests of South Africa v India were needed last year. Remember when South Africa went to India and won the first match. India hit back in the next match an epic at Kolkata and everyone was eagerly awaiting the next test before remembering it was a 2 test series.

India and South Africa are holding to many 2 test series, especially for marquee series.

Personally I would rather 2 sides played 7 ODI's or 4 Test rather than 3 ODI's and 2 Tests.
 
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flibbertyjibber

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Strauss is right, apart from an ashes series the crowds are poor. Even in England the grounds are rarely full (this summer v India was an exception as it was about being number1) and the price puts people off. I don't think test cricket will die in England or Australia as the ashes will always remain the priority for both nations but in Asia and some other nations the crowds don't bother with test cricket yet flock to ODI's and hit and giggle matches so the players will be drawn to that and the prospect of big money from hit and giggle.
 

honestbharani

Whatever it takes!!!
Whatever be the motives behind Strauss' statement, his concerns are valid and genuine. Boards around the world have gotta find a way to get more people into the grounds for tests. If that means slashing ticket prices, so be it. I would assume they would rather earn their 20K with 20,000 people than just 2000 people. Or, at least, that is how I would go about it.
 

flibbertyjibber

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I bet the host grounds would love to cut the prices as they would make money on the catering side at most venues (certainly in England anyway) and if England were in town the only problem would be running out of beer. :D
 

Furball

Evil Scotsman
The problem with Test Cricket is that it's a fundamentally spectator-unfriendly sport. It takes 5 days to complete, takes place during the normal working day, and in most countries in the world the grounds are poor and the weather ridiculous for watching sport in. That's pretty difficult to fix; Test cricket will always be a bit of an 'elitist' sport.

Where there main problem exists is in terms of revenue generation; if boards are too greedy and only schedule ODIs and T20s then that's where the main threat to Test cricket lies.
 

gvenkat

State Captain
The problem with Test Cricket is that it's a fundamentally spectator-unfriendly sport. It takes 5 days to complete, takes place during the normal working day, and in most countries in the world the grounds are poor and the weather ridiculous for watching sport in. That's pretty difficult to fix; Test cricket will always be a bit of an 'elitist' sport.

Where there main problem exists is in terms of revenue generation; if boards are too greedy and only schedule ODIs and T20s then that's where the main threat to Test cricket lies.
Very good summary. It's hard for boards to encourage Tests in terms of a revenue generator when 3 ODI's and 2 T20's could give them more $$ than a two Test series. The over arching issue is cricket as a game has evolved and people have also adapted to the latest formats, Tests should not be forced upon people too, If the quality is great and people are tierd of T20's eventually they will return back to Tests. But as of now it does not look like that.
 

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