The future of Test cricket outside of the big three

[James]

Yet there is a certain sadness to New Zealand’s successes, too. In 2015, while they were sharing a thrilling two-match series in England, Mike Hesson, then New Zealand’s head coach, declared they had ‘‘earned the right’’ to play longer Test series. New Zealand’s last three-match series at home was four years ago. Since then, they have been restricted to two-Test affairs. Unless it is against the big three, each home Test loses Cricket New Zealand about $700,000.

Source - https://www.smh.com.au/sport/cricke...-always-buy-test-success-20210103-p56rfg.html

This is concerning and I assume is the case for the other cricket boards also outside of India, England, Australia. As much as Test cricket is the pinnacle of the game, if it's not financially sustainable, will we see less and less Test cricket in coming years?

It's interesting here where NZ tour Pakistan (UAE) for only ODIs and T20s, likewise West Indies, India, Afghanistan. Some are close to World Cups, but I thought they could have got some Tests in there also.

 

[Flem274*]

we're hosting the netherlands for odis in high summer? i call bull****, but that's really cute if it goes ahead. good on those boards.

i guess this is where the wtc could keep test cricket up. if teams are pulling out for financial reasons, the game looks like a joke. there's vested interest to make the championship look as legitimate as possible for the rich boards. hopefully we don't go down the formula 1 route aka formula follow the h4x manufacturer team.

 

[James]

we're hosting the netherlands for odis in high summer? i call bull****, but that's really cute if it goes ahead. good on those boards.

That's awesome. I wish we'd given them 1 Test, but unfortunately not. I imagine they'll play 4-day games against NZ-A.

i guess this is where the wtc could keep test cricket up. if teams are pulling out for financial reasons, the game looks like a joke. there's vested interest to make the championship look as legitimate as possible for the rich boards. hopefully we don't go down the formula 1 route aka formula follow the h4x manufacturer team.

I'm curious as to whether boards like the West Indies might think, forget Test cricket. Our top players haven't been interested in the format for many years, it loses us money, so why don't we focus on T20s, ODIs. I hope it doesn't happen but ultimately it's a business, and if the Test form loses boards money, why would they continue playing Tests?

 

[Bahnz]

Source - https://www.smh.com.au/sport/cricke...-always-buy-test-success-20210103-p56rfg.html

This is concerning and I assume is the case for the other cricket boards also outside of India, England, Australia. As much as Test cricket is the pinnacle of the game, if it's not financially sustainable, will we see less and less Test cricket in coming years?

It's interesting here where NZ tour Pakistan (UAE) for only ODIs and T20s, likewise West Indies, India, Afghanistan. Some are close to World Cups, but I thought they could have got some Tests in there also.

View attachment 26621

New Zealand are playing tests in the UAE. It's right there in 2022/23 (4 years after our most recent tour).

 

[TheJediBrah]

NZ are easily the best pound-for-pound cricket team in the world. Blows my mind how they are so good with such a small population that for the most part doesn't give 2 ****s about cricket. Gained a lot of respect for these little guys lately.

 

[trundler]

Wait no tests when they tour Pakistan? That's bull****. Whoever approved that needs to be caned.

 

[Beamer]

Good thread. Cricket West Indies chief executive Johnny Graves recently said that we lose a ton of money on home tours not involving India, England and Australia and that we make no money on overseas tours either.

Basically, after the tour of Bangladesh, we have a whole bunch of home series that will be vital in ensuring cricket West Indies survives for the next 2 years.

That just doesn't feel like a viable long term system. Something has to give.

 

[nzfan]

Looking at this should be telling my kid to take up something like golf or tennis. My fifteen year old wants to be a cricketer but he's not keen on test cricket. His dream is to play for Black caps in some format and make it to IPL. Tells what the younger generation thinks about test cricket.

 

[James]

That just doesn't feel like a viable long term system. Something has to give.

That's exactly my thought too. I don't believe the likes of West Indies, Sri Lanka, South Africa, Bangladesh, New Zealand, Pakistan will sustain and want to play Test Cricket in coming years due to the $ they lose (especially in a post-Covid world).

It might sound pessimistic, but I believe in 10-15 years Test cricket will either only be played by a handful of countries, or the game will be changed to be 3/4 days outside of matches between the big three.

For the health of the game, I'd really like to see India start playing Pakistan again but that seems unlikely.

 

[Flem274*]

Looking at this should be telling my kid to take up something like golf or tennis. My fifteen year old wants to be a cricketer but he's not keen on test cricket. His dream is to play for Black caps in some format and make it to IPL. Tells what the younger generation thinks about test cricket.

itstl. in my experiece no one cares about the ipl here apart from indian expats. it's just on at such an obnoxious time. bbl is usually our choice of casual overseas franchise stuff.

 

[SillyCowCorner1]

For India and Pakistan to play test cricket again...Prime Minister Imran khan and President Sourav Ganguly will have to compete against each other.........in a......bowl-off

 

[nzfan]

itstl. in my experiece no one cares about the ipl here apart from indian expats. it's just on at such an obnoxious time. bbl is usually our choice of casual overseas franchise stuff.

Trust me there are a lot of kids that want to be part of ipl and not expats. They may not watch it but they really want a piece of it. I'm generally surprised they know the no name players from BBL, ipl and even cpl. I wouldn't know a name from the leagues unless they're international cricketers.

Ask them about players from our past even from the 2000s they just roll their eyes.

Oh they all follow super smash which is a good thing.

 

[TheJediBrah]

Ask them about players from our past even from the 2000s they just roll their eyes.

How dare they not respect the greats like Matthew Bell and Peter Fulton

 

[Line and Length]

Not all kids think along those lines. My great-nephews (I think that's what you call my niece's lads) love cricket and aspire to wear the baggy green and play in test matches. They watch the BBL but know little of the IPL.

 

[nzfan]

Not all kids think along those lines. My great-nephews (I think that's what you call my niece's lads) love cricket and aspire to wear the baggy green and play in test matches. They watch the BBL but know little of the IPL.

You've got enough going on in test cricket. Some serious rivalry with England over the last couple of decades and recently with India. Lots to look forward with some thrilling series and test matches. Unlike ours.

Two test match series, mostly vs Sri Lanka, West Indies and Pakistan. Rare overseas tours to Aussie, England, India and South Africa for test series.

We win lots of them at home but quite one sided results mostly at home. Don't think we have a close rivalry with any test playing nations maybe barring Pakistan. You need good close series for folks to follow. I bet good number of cricket followers from NZ will be watching your series vs India.

I'd think ICC tourneys like world cup is most watched in NZ.

 

[cnerd123]

There is probably room for administrators at cricket boards to cut the costs of hosting Tests while also promoting them better in order to generate more revenue.

The Big 3 should be more generous with sharing the revenue they generate. Recent administrations have been focused on carving out a larger slice of the pie for themselves at ICC events, instead of trying to make the pie bigger. Short sighted thinking driven by businessmen and politicians rather than cricket lovers. Recent TV contracts show the same thing - looking for the big payoff in the immediate future rather than looking to make cricket accessible to as many people as possible.

Looking forward, it seems the remaining boards have realised that relying on income from playing the Big 3 to cover all your costs is not sustainable. Everyone is trying to create their own T20 franchise leagues, put their domestic cricket on TV/streaming, and trying to expand their grassroots programs. It's a good place to start.

4-day Tests might become more of a thing. I hope that if they do go down this route that they also allow more nations to play Tests - Scotland, Netherlands, Nepal, etc. In a perfect world any two countries could play each other in ODIs and Tests, like they can now for T20Is. No better way to grow the game than by letting people play it.

 

[GotSpin]

Four day tests don't solve anything really

 

[Gob]

Gained a lot of respect for these little guys lately.

That's what she said to Daemon and gnske after the three way

 

[TheJediBrah]

That's what she said to Daemon and gnske after the three way

tbf the two of them combined are almost an average length

 

[harsh.ag]

A good way forward is the multi-team test series.

India, New Zealand, South Africa, West Indies (let's say) play a series in SA (let's say). Here's how it could go:

1.1.2022 - 5.1.2022
India vs NZ
SA vs WI

9.1.2022 - 13.1.2022
NZ vs SA
WI vs Ind

17.1.2022 - 21.1.2022
WI vs NZ
Ind vs SA

25.1.2022 - 29.1.2022
Final

In the time frame of a 4 test series, you get this beautiful thing. Or just skip the final and just decide the winner on points and you get 6 tests in the span of a 3 test series.