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Simplest method to make test cricket competitive

Xuhaib

International Coach
Forget about gimmicks like toss removal or pitches standardisation just make it mandatory that all visiting teams play 3 full F.C. matches as warmup before the series starts and watch results improve to no end.

Thoughts?
 

Starfighter

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
Yes, as long as the home XIs are strong and the conditions representative (i.e. not Sri Lanka's tactics). But there's no room for that in the modern schedule. Also in the T20 age I feel that many batsmen would be ill-equipped to adapt their techniques no matter how much time they're given.
 

jimmy101

Cricketer Of The Year
Wait? What? You're saying that international tours need to be given the respect they used to receive, and players deserve to have the time to acclimatize to local conditions?

It's gonna be hard to fit in the JAMODIs if that's the case ;-)
 

MagicPoopShovel

U19 12th Man
I'd take a 5 ODI bi lateral series over 3 FC games, any day of the week.

50 over cricket matters too, Okay.

Also is preparing decent pitches actually a gimmick?
 

cnerd123

likes this
Everyone says it's a money issue - it costs time and money to play warmup games, time that could be spent playing JAMODIs to make more money, and money that could be spent on, um...something. No one really specifies what.

Let's just assume that a touring team is bankrupt, and they don't have the cash on hand to pay their players, coaches and staff for warmup cricket, nor can they afford hotels and logistics and the like. They have just enough cash on hand to get through the scheduled Test series, and the JAMODIs, if any.

How do we make these more competitive?

My first suggestion would be to schedule tours better. We already see this happening. To start with, schedule all your tours within a region all close together on the calendar, starting off with the nations lower on the Test rankings. Like Pakistan did by playing Ireland then England, or Australia/England did by playing BD and then India. It means when you come in raw in unfamiliar conditions, you aren't immediately against the best team in those conditions. You start off with a softer opponent, and work your way up to the main event, by which time you are hopefully warmed up and acclimatized and thus won't get ripped to shreds. If SA could have scheduled their recent SL tour to follow a BD tour, they might have been more competitive. This doesn't really work when sides tour West Indies (who do you play before them?) or NZ/Aus (both equally competitive, but fairly different conditions).

In cases like these, or if you want to go a step further, you can scheduled A Team Tours ahead of the main tour - like India have done by sending India A over to England right before their own Test series. This is a great way to get fringe players/players not involved in the JAMODIs a chance to get ready for the main event. England are also known for sending their England Lions over before their main team for a tour. This tends to work well. You also gather information that can then be useful for the main squad's preparations.

My second suggestion would be sending over Test specialists to play domestic/club cricket in various parts of the world when there is no local domestic cricket or Test cricket for them to play. We're seeing this happen already too - witness Pujara and Ishant taking up county stints. It would be good to see England, Australia and South Africa start to explore the possibility of their Test specialists going over to Asia for a while when they have no other cricket scheduled.

The last suggestion is to focus on Test Specialists in every squad. We already see this happening too - but in the case of nations like BD, Pakistan, SL, it's again a money issue. Test specialists seemingly don't get paid as well. This is blamed on the lack of Tests these countries play, which is another issue in of itself - it's hard to be a Test Specialist if you only play 4 Tests a year. Some work needs to go into getting these guys better contracts, and to ensuring they get domestic/club stints overseas when they have no other cricket to play, in order to keep them in touch and ready for big tours.
 

TheJediBrah

Request Your Custom Title Now!
Sri Lanka would organise 3 Four-day warm up games on green tops against second string sides with nothing but seam bowlers then come the first Test serve up a dustbowl and open with 2 spinners lol
 

MagicPoopShovel

U19 12th Man
I think in the case of SL, Test specialist do make decent money. For eg players like Dimuth K and Herath are always given a Category A contract. I think some level of seniority and experience is also involved in how they are grouped but from what I have seen in the past they tend to give the Test only guys a bit of a leg up and push them into the higher brackets.

Completely agree with the sort of talent exchange programs and the erudite scheduling of A tours. India are benefiting from this as we speak by being able to pick players like Pant off the back of good a run in the A team. Very different scenario from someone flying in a long flight bleary eyed and then turning up for a Test.

Good point also with regards to "touring a region".
 
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Starfighter

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
Sri Lanka would organise 3 Four-day warm up games on green tops against second string sides with nothing but seam bowlers then come the first Test serve up a dustbowl and open with 2 spinners lol
It's this sort of cynical strategy that has to be stopped for warmup matches to be effective.
 

Mr Miyagi

Banned
Forget about gimmicks like toss removal or pitches standardisation just make it mandatory that all visiting teams play 3 full F.C. matches as warmup before the series starts and watch results improve to no end.

Thoughts?
Too many teams have a hunger to win at home at all costs now, and exploit their advantages (except cash hungry NZ who besides too many 5 day pitches, got paid by Kookaburra to stick with them instead of getting a nice Dukes ball - and yeah, I'm not judging, I wish NZ had gone Dukes, but I think doctoring tour games is making them rather pointless for the visitor).

The real interest for me is in how competitive the test championship will be. That means certain tests mean more (will teams host or visiting try and schedule these at certain grounds) and people will take a wider interest in series that effect their own preferred team's standing.

Though Australia without Warner and Smithy vs India is a very interesting tour this Christmas for the world to watch.

I like the test championship idea. I hope it works out well.
 
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TheJediBrah

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can't really legislate for it tho. Home boards are going to do whatever they can to get whatever advantage they can get.
No, most home boards don't

Some even ban their best players to try to make a series competitive . . .
 

MagicPoopShovel

U19 12th Man
Yea I am also pinning a lot of hope on the WTC. Probably misplaced hope. But I do want to see it succeed. My main worry is that 1 year into the 2 year season there will be a bunch of teams with a very small chance of getting up there.

It's the top 2 in a final inst it ? Maybe they could have done with a SF's and a Final just to the top 4 spots were up for grabs.
 

Mr Miyagi

Banned
Yea I am also pinning a lot of hope on the WTC. Probably misplaced hope. But I do want to see it succeed. My main worry is that 1 year into the 2 year season there will be a bunch of teams with a very small chance of getting up there.

It's the top 2 in a final inst it ? Maybe they could have done with a SF's and a Final just to the top 4 spots were up for grabs.
Yeah, this is open to rorting by certain teams very strong at home making themselves heavy contenders every second cycle. But - there's still second place, and a final in a foreign neutral locale (unless the host qualifies), and then another 2 year split where the rorters are really up against it, so it can keep momentum of being interesting.
 

TheJediBrah

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Semi-Finals would have been good IMO. Makes it less easy to rig the system by getting an easy run
 

Mr Miyagi

Banned
Semi-Finals would have been good IMO. Makes it less easy to rig the system by getting an easy run
Agreed. But you just added another 10 days minimum, most likely more, to the finals prep (time to get to venue, play game, and get ready for the final. And, test cricket is still often ending in a draw. And do you want the #1 team losing a crucial semi final toss only to be out of it (well maybe some teams ;))
 

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