MCC and the future of Test cricket
The MCC think that Test cricket is in danger of dying out. The cricket world is managing to wring it’s hands about the danger of IPL clones springing up all over the world whilst busily trying to rake in the money they bring at the same time. The latest news is of an ICC sanctioned USA Premier League in the wake of the postponement of the unsanctioned American Premier League.
Meanwhile, some of the visionaries and luminaries are telling us that changing the ball from red to pink, and the start time from 11am to 2pm, will save Test cricket. We must also tear up the schedules in favour of a bi-annual World Test Championship.
According to the MCC, there are two problems:
MCC’s research proved that attendances at Test cricket have declined in recent years. In addition, there is a growing ambivalence towards the longer format of the game from cricketers in certain nations, with player surveys revealing that an IPL contract was the main career aspiration for many.
A Test championship, sensibly constructed, would not be a bad thing. But everyone seems to be ignoring the one factor which is causing this sea-change.
The only reason that players are gravitating towards the IPL is money, pure and simple. They can earn in a few weeks a sum that would otherwise take years of Test cricket to match. Placed in their situations, with families to be supported, who could blame them for trying to maximise their income?
Much of the loss of interest in Test cricket can be blamed, also, on money. With administrators desperate to ensure that they reap a full five days revenue from every test match, pitches are becoming slower and blander. They are now so friendly that Test batting averages have increased by perhaps as much as 10 runs per innings since the mid-nineties.
Whilst a full five days might be played out, in many cases there is no prospect of a result after 3 with both teams running up huge scores in their 1st innings.
World class bowlers are now few and far between – arguably, Dale Steyn, Muttiah Muralitharan and Mitchell Johnson are the only ones who would currently fall into that category for Test cricket – as a direct result of the need for teams to bowl more defensively to counter the pitches.
In England, Test match ticket prices are far too high. Whilst they will always fill Lord’s for an Ashes Test match, Durham in May against West Indies is a different matter.
It seems to me that a simple commercial truth is being missed by administrators the world over – and the ECB are a prime example – in their search for money. That is this: the best way to ensure good revenues is….to provide a good product at a reasonable price. The excitement of the drawn Cardiff Test shows that the interest remains, although in this case it came about more through English incompetence than any life in the wicket.
An improvement in pitches need not be dramatic as too much life for the bowler would swing the pendulum too far in the other direction. But surely, before introducing radical ideas, cricket should try to tackle the more obvious problems first. If this doesn’t work, then by all means start making the more drastic changes.
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