How much time does Test cricket have left?

[Adders]

As long as Australia and England exist, so too will test match cricket.

I think the Ashes will always be a tradition for Australia and England at the very least, even if it did die in other countries

Yes ashes will be the only form of test cricket that will be played

Not sure you guy's are thinking this through..........if test cricket dies in every other test nation (I don't believe that it will) then so too will the Ashes. How can you have a situation where only England and Australia play test cricket and everyone else sticks to T20 or ODI's? The Ashes are held twice every four years.........you're suggesting that players from Aus and Eng that only ever play short form cricket, find some white clothes and give it a crack every second year.

Even if the interest for this contest is strong in both countries that situation would never be viable, and ultimately if they did try it the standard of test cricket would be so appalling as the players wouldn't have the skills for it, that it would die anyway.

I've been hearing for pretty much all the years I've been watching cricket that test cricket is going to die out...........well it's still here. I think ODI's are at the biggest risk of being lost.

 

[honestbharani]

Yeah.. I feel like it is 1996 all over again.

 

[TheJediBrah]

Not sure you guy's are thinking this through..........if test cricket dies in every other test nation (I don't believe that it will) then so too will the Ashes. How can you have a situation where only England and Australia play test cricket and everyone else sticks to T20 or ODI's? The Ashes are held twice every four years.........you're suggesting that players from Aus and Eng that only ever play short form cricket, find some white clothes and give it a crack every second year.

Even if the interest for this contest is strong in both countries that situation would never be viable, and ultimately if they did try it the standard of test cricket would be so appalling as the players wouldn't have the skills for it, that it would die anyway.

I've been hearing for pretty much all the years I've been watching cricket that test cricket is going to die out...........well it's still here. I think ODI's are at the biggest risk of being lost.

Easily. Having the only Tests be ashes every couple years could easily happen. There's no reason competitions like Sheffield Shield and County Championship wouldn't continue just because Tests aren't as prevalent.

 

[Zinzan]

Not sure you guy's are thinking this through..........if test cricket dies in every other test nation (I don't believe that it will) then so too will the Ashes. How can you have a situation where only England and Australia play test cricket and everyone else sticks to T20 or ODI's? The Ashes are held twice every four years.........you're suggesting that players from Aus and Eng that only ever play short form cricket, find some white clothes and give it a crack every second year.
.

Honestly I could 100% see Aust/Eng continuing that tradition even if all other nations stopped. They'll always get enormous crowds and revenue either way. What's more they could play annually then (either home or away) and assuming FC cricket would still be played in those countries, the best test teams would pick themselves. Even if all domestic cricket went to short-form, they'd still pick their best squad suited to tests.

 

[OverratedSanity]

Far more optimistic than most of you guys here.

Test cricket will continue to have an audience because it's so different to the other formats. The reason odis are in big trouble is because the rules and conditions have basically made them extended t20s, which no one really wants to watch. I don't really think tests are in any more danger of dying than the other formats, certainly not more tham odis.

What I'm more concerned about us the sport as a whole declining and the ICC's attitude towards associates. Cricket is at a point now, with the popularity of t20, where it should be expanding to other nations, not contracting in on itself.

 

[S.Kennedy]

I really need to find this article that had data on Test crowds from all over the world. NZ attendances stood out like a sore thumb & SA was relatively poor as well IIRC, So not sure I can quantify a number, but if it's not supporting itself revenue-wise and is only being propped up by white ball cricket, and a supporting ICC & Ind/Aus/Eng boards, it's always a big risk that it could end. I hope I'm wrong btw.

English County Cricket has been entirely subsidised, or funded through alternative means (like football pools, pop concerts) for almost its entire history, and people have been saying ''it will die'' similarly - especially since the '50s.

It is still around.

I think we have to accept that First-Rate cricket is unique and not viewed in the same way as other sports (or List A/T20 cricket). It has been that way for much of its history.

 

[Zinzan]

English County Cricket has been entirely subsidised, or funded through alternative means (like football pools, pop concerts) for almost its entire history, and people have been saying ''it will die'' similarly - especially since the '50s.

It is still around.

I think we have to accept that First-Rate cricket is unique and not viewed in the same way as other sports (or List A/T20 cricket). It has been that way for much of its history.

Your population is 65M, it's 4.5M in NZ, it doesn't quite work like that here. We have many sports here fighting for very limited Govt funding, with only NZ rugby actually commercially profitable. Even as good as the All Black brand is, they have no obligation to help other NZ sports & they're a blip revenue wise compared to what football generates in the UK, not even in the same ball park.

The whole thing is apples & oranges.

 

[Flem274*]

Btw, the picnic atmosphere vibe is cool, but it's not really paying the bills, it's close to 100% reliant on the ICC/overseas board it's hosting for that.

Certainly a risk the ICC decide it's not viable in the long-term. We've already seen NZ are lucky to get hosted for 3 test series when we travel & always the secondary tour. The recent away series against Aust and India were rare treats.

test crowd attendance has never and will never pay for cricket in NZ. when you're taking tests out of places like eden park and its 40,000 seats because a crowd of 5000 looks terrible, it means TV, advertising etc is paying the bills and not crowds. if tests in NZ were crowd dependent they'd desperately force the issue at eden park, westpac stadium etc. they don't need to so they don't.

NZ also pay their players a lot less than the australian, indian and english boards and let the IPL top things up. while this has downsides, as long as they can dodge around the IPL a bit (which is shorter than a full county season which drew away dempster, donnelly and turner from NZ representation in the past) they can use the TV revenue in other areas.

im not going to claim NZ are sitting on a mountain of gold, but the finances are comfortably cricketing middle class and able to support test matches and domestic cricket thanks to good interest in test cricket and high interest in ODIs and T20s.

it's probably easier for NZ and SA to make money now than ever. india for example are richer and fandom is more widespread than ever so when they come here there's plenty of cash floating around.

 

[S.Kennedy]

Your population is 65M, it's 4.5M in NZ, it doesn't quite work like that here. We have many sports here fighting for very limited Govt funding, with only NZ rugby actually commercially profitable. Even as good as the All Black brand is, they have no obligation to help other NZ sports & they're a blip revenue wise compared to what football generates in the UK, not even in the same ball park.

The whole thing is apples & oranges.

How well does the Plunket Shield do (dare I ask)? Is it free like the Ranji Trophy?

 

[kykweer.proteas]

In 40 years the ashes will be an annual 10 match series.

 

[jonbrooks]

Eternity

 

[Heboric]

In 40 years the ashes will be an annual 10 match series.

On top of that they will hire WWE commentators so that they will reinforce the tradition that the louder they scream in the mike, must obviously mean the more exciting the play is. Even if its just a forward defensive shot by the batsmen....

 

[kykweer.proteas]

On top of that they will hire WWE commentators so that they will reinforce the tradition that the louder they scream in the mike, must obviously mean the more exciting the play is. Even if its just a forward defensive shot by the batsmen....

And overs will be 4 balls per over to increase ad revenue.

 

[Furball]

On top of that they will hire WWE commentators so that they will reinforce the tradition that the louder they scream in the mike, must obviously mean the more exciting the play is. Even if its just a forward defensive shot by the batsmen....

Sounds like 9 are ahead of the game in that respect.

Remember how the advent of T20 was supposed to kill off Test cricket? India, one of the game's biggest ODI exponents, have just come off the back of their first 5 Test home series in what must be 30 years, and are only hosting England for 3 ODIs when a decade ago it would have been a 3/7 split.

Gideon Haigh in his Ashes 2010/11 book lamented the death of the 5 Test series outwith the Ashes. England and India have just played 2 in the last 2 and a half years and have another scheduled in 2018. Australia and South Africa are scheduled for 4 in 2018. At the very top of the game we're now trending towards longer Test series.

 

[OverratedSanity]

Yeah and India are touring SA for 4 tests too, which never happens.

 

[GotSpin]

Sounds like 9 are ahead of the game in that respect.

Remember how the advent of T20 was supposed to kill off Test cricket? India, one of the game's biggest ODI exponents, have just come off the back of their first 5 Test home series in what must be 30 years, and are only hosting England for 3 ODIs when a decade ago it would have been a 3/7 split.

Gideon Haigh in his Ashes 2010/11 book lamented the death of the 5 Test series outwith the Ashes. England and India have just played 2 in the last 2 and a half years and have another scheduled in 2018. Australia and South Africa are scheduled for 4 in 2018. At the very top of the game we're now trending towards longer Test series.

I don't think we can stick our head in the sand and pretend that test cricket is in a really healthy situation. It needs a serious injection in many countries. I see day night cricket helping with that though

 

[Adders]

Easily. Having the only Tests be ashes every couple years could easily happen. There's no reason competitions like Sheffield Shield and County Championship wouldn't continue just because Tests aren't as prevalent.

Why on earth would the County Championship or Sheffield Shield keep going if there was no test cricket?? If test cricket isn't profitable enough to be viable then how the **** are these domestic first class comps?? I'd bet you a test between Sri Lanka and Bangladesh would pull more $'s from bums on seats and TV revenue than any match up in CC or SS. These comps only exist to start with to feed test cricket.......they don't make money but they are a necessity as things stand now so the boards subsidise them.

Seriously.......there is no way that test cricket will continue if it is only Aus and Eng. If test cricket dies then so does the Ashes......the bean counters may try and keep it going but ultimately it can never survive with players trying to play 5 day games that only do it every second year.

 

[OverratedSanity]

Day night tests are definitely the way forward. Not that 4 day rubbish.

 

[Zinzan]

Notice fans from the big 3 seem much more confidence & hunky dory about future prospects across the board that those from smaller nations. Doubt it's a coincidence.

 

[Adders]

Notice fans from the big 3 seem much more confidence & hunky dory about future prospects across the board that those from smaller nations. Doubt it's a coincidence.

There seriously might be something in this....dunno. But I do know I've been hearing about the impeding doom of test cricket since the early 90's.........but we're still here.