It is sad to be watching the slow death of the purest form of the game - Australia is as culpable as India in its demise in spite of the holier-than-thou rhetoric spun by CA - India again, then the Ashes. No NZ, No SL...no diversity, and no chance for the smaller nations to grow their test match players and audiences...
One of the better things about the postmodern world, at least for those of us who refuse to go near Murdochery, is the ability to watch the highlights of any Test anywhere in the world next day. (Ireland v Zimbabwe at Stormont is priceless -- it's like watching a Test match at Newcastle No. 1. If only.) If you've not seen the first day of play of India v New Zealand, find it. Henry and O'Rourke found a little piece of Dunedin in Bengaluru, and bent it like Beckham. India was lucky to make 46. Beautiful stuff.
Every time the usual suspects come up and talk about how Test cricket is dying, it throws up results like this week. And hasn’t it been fabulous to watch. The same way with the Windies beating Australia at the Gabba, and Sri Lanka turning the tide on England.
This should continue to be the purest reminder that Test cricket is still the best form of the game. And all countries should be invested in it.
If there was an award for the most enigmatic team in world cricket it would have to be Pakistan. You never ever know what you will get with them - in just about any era or decade. The comment from the NZ cricket boss is a tad disturbing (but far from surprising): ‘If I took a pure business lens at New Zealand Cricket, we would be playing nothing but T20.’ I don't think an admin person would have said this publicly even five years ago. God knows what (derogatory stuff) they say in private about test cricket.
Test cricket hangs on by its fingernails, but it is results like these - and West Indies beating Australia this year - that breath life into it. The pampered Big Three will likely always dominate now but we do love an upset.
Let's hope Ned Beatty's next appearance doesn't have him depicting himself as Test Cricket and the vulnerabilities of his utterings in Deliverance, Gideon.
It was heartening to see the huge and raucous attendances in Bengaluru. Indian fans led the charge in abandoning Test cricket in favour of the franchise stuff, but now seem to appreciate the value of the longer format, and the incredible fluctuations it can throw up. Or maybe the Bengaluru crowds were swelled by new fans captured by the IPL and curious about Test cricket. At times it sounded that way! On the other hand, in Multan, crowds were sparse and confined to the diehards. A big factor in this was the relocation of the venue from central Multan to a Badgeries Creek-like stadium in the middle of nowhere, which eliminated the drop-in factor (people shutting up shop or skiving off work) when the home side is going well. Apparently the old central Multan venue still stands and should have been repurposed for Test cricket, but its ramshackle condition nowadays is testament to how little administrators value the Test format where money is tight.
‘Cowards and Carpetbaggers’, there’s the title of your next cricket book, Gideon.
It is sad to be watching the slow death of the purest form of the game - Australia is as culpable as India in its demise in spite of the holier-than-thou rhetoric spun by CA - India again, then the Ashes. No NZ, No SL...no diversity, and no chance for the smaller nations to grow their test match players and audiences...
One of the better things about the postmodern world, at least for those of us who refuse to go near Murdochery, is the ability to watch the highlights of any Test anywhere in the world next day. (Ireland v Zimbabwe at Stormont is priceless -- it's like watching a Test match at Newcastle No. 1. If only.) If you've not seen the first day of play of India v New Zealand, find it. Henry and O'Rourke found a little piece of Dunedin in Bengaluru, and bent it like Beckham. India was lucky to make 46. Beautiful stuff.
Every time the usual suspects come up and talk about how Test cricket is dying, it throws up results like this week. And hasn’t it been fabulous to watch. The same way with the Windies beating Australia at the Gabba, and Sri Lanka turning the tide on England.
This should continue to be the purest reminder that Test cricket is still the best form of the game. And all countries should be invested in it.
If there was an award for the most enigmatic team in world cricket it would have to be Pakistan. You never ever know what you will get with them - in just about any era or decade. The comment from the NZ cricket boss is a tad disturbing (but far from surprising): ‘If I took a pure business lens at New Zealand Cricket, we would be playing nothing but T20.’ I don't think an admin person would have said this publicly even five years ago. God knows what (derogatory stuff) they say in private about test cricket.
Test cricket hangs on by its fingernails, but it is results like these - and West Indies beating Australia this year - that breath life into it. The pampered Big Three will likely always dominate now but we do love an upset.
Let's hope Ned Beatty's next appearance doesn't have him depicting himself as Test Cricket and the vulnerabilities of his utterings in Deliverance, Gideon.
"Squeal like a pig!"
It was heartening to see the huge and raucous attendances in Bengaluru. Indian fans led the charge in abandoning Test cricket in favour of the franchise stuff, but now seem to appreciate the value of the longer format, and the incredible fluctuations it can throw up. Or maybe the Bengaluru crowds were swelled by new fans captured by the IPL and curious about Test cricket. At times it sounded that way! On the other hand, in Multan, crowds were sparse and confined to the diehards. A big factor in this was the relocation of the venue from central Multan to a Badgeries Creek-like stadium in the middle of nowhere, which eliminated the drop-in factor (people shutting up shop or skiving off work) when the home side is going well. Apparently the old central Multan venue still stands and should have been repurposed for Test cricket, but its ramshackle condition nowadays is testament to how little administrators value the Test format where money is tight.