Restricting Test cricket to fewer teams to ensure the long-term sustainability of the traditional format were among the views aired at a conference organised by the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) on Sunday.
Test cricket’s dwindling appeal outside India, England and Australia has coincided with the proliferation of lucrative Twenty20 leagues across the world.
Former India player and coach Ravi Shastri said Test cricket must remain competitive and the only way to do so was to have only the relatively stronger teams competing in this format.
“When you don’t have quality, that is when the ratings drop, there are fewer people in the crowd, its meaningless cricket, which is the last thing sport wants,” Reuters quotes Shastri as having said at World Cricket Connects, an event at Lord’s hosted by the MCC.
“You have 12 Test match teams. Bring it down to six or seven and have a promotion and relegation system. You can have two tiers but let the top six keep playing to sustain the interest in Test cricket. You can spread the game in other formats, like T20,” added the former India coach.
Cricket Australia chairman Mike Bird, while calling for ideas that would be sufficiently suited to playing Test cricket, spoke along similar lines.
“Do you have a smaller amount of Test-playing nations that are sustainable, as opposed to trying to prop up a system with additional cost that is adding to the economic challenges of maintaining Test cricket?” Bird was quoted by Sydney Morning Herald as having said.
Bird also called for ideas that would be sufficiently suited to playing the traditional format.
“We (Cricket Australia) don’t feel (we) should dictate to any country, but we’re open to ideas and proposals on how to support Test playing full stop.
“There’s a summer to fill, and white-ball cricket can play a role, but (Test cricket) still remains the dominant game in Australia. It is very clear Australia will support and invest and grow Test cricket opportunities as long as we possibly can,” Bird added.
Former Australia batter and coach Justin Langer said while he loved T20 leagues, he wanted international cricket to be protected for the impact it can have on young people.
He cited examples including West Indies fast bowler Shamar Joseph’s memorial debut series in Australia this year.
“…it had Australia enthralled and it brought the Caribbean to life,” Langer said.
“Last week we saw a million people turn up to see India celebrated for winning the World Cup. That is bilateral cricket and international cricket,” he said.
Summing up the themes, MCC president Mark Nicholas said “T20 cricket is the behemoth that everybody wants”.
“It is where the new market is, where the fans are and where the money is. In cricket, money is seen as a dirty word but it shouldn’t be because it is the only way to sustain the game,” he concluded.
