The four days Test Match

admin — Sat, 25 Jan 2020 12:06:17 +0000

Is it to popularize or making space for more matches?

The huge popularity of the T20 format in cricket and the steady decline of the viewership of Test and ODI format when compared to T20 has started the talks of shortening the test format into four days. The supporters of a four-day test match consider this to be a pragmatic approach.

As the people these days no longer have the time and patience to wait and watch the end of a match, everyone is looking for an immediate result. Our faster life and automation in technology has already made the T20 format a huge success all over the world. There is a surge of the matches played in this format with a huge crowd at the stadiums. All of these have influenced the thought of modifying the oldest and purest format of cricket - Test cricket from five days to four days.

From past some time, the cricket boards are working on popularizing the Test cricket and they came up with World Test Championship series to raise the interest of cricket fans. Not only this, but we are also witnessing some very close and interesting test matches that are inevitably helping the format. The majority of the test matches are giving results and not ending into draws as it was the case 10 to 15 years earlier.

Truncating the test matches into four days might have an adverse impact as most of the matches would result in a draw. We already have experience of Ranji matches, the domestic tournament of India in which the matches are held for four days and they mostly end up in draws. It is difficult to get a result in such format and there is also a point given to the team leading in the first inning to keep the points table moving in this series.

Instead of looking at the option of reducing a day from the test match, the Cricket board can think of some innovative ideas to promote test cricket; it can be a five-day carnival or a fest so that people can enjoy the test match with their families where they have an option to not just watch cricket but to participate in other activities at the stadium. The trimming of this format would not only distort the oldest format but would also affect the temperament building development of a batsman i.e. to stay longer at the crease or of the bowler to bowl long hours with the same line and length.

While the Cricket Australia and England Cricket board are supporting the idea of the four-day test, the big players like Virat Kohli, Glenn McGrath, Nathan Lyon, Faf Du Plessis and Vernon Philander are completely against and want the test match to stay in its purest form.

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Are we witnessing the third era of Test Cricket?

admin — Sun, 20 Jan 2019 09:06:35 +0000

After looking at the style of how Test cricket is played today, we realized witnessing the third stage of this format. So far, we have distinctively seen three different phases of Test cricket. The differences have majorly occurred based on the approach of playing the game and the mindset of players.

Let's categorize these three different phases of this format into Era's and see how they differ from each other-

First Era: Before 1985 (the starting of Test Cricket)- During this time period, the mindset of the players was to play conventional cricket. The strike rate was extremely slow as this was the only dominant format of the game and the strength of the players was majorly displayed based on their patience level. This was a phase when scoring 150 odd runs with five wickets down was considered domination over the opponent. The average score in an inning was around 250 runs and most of the matches were close. We also witnessed such matches where a team needing 200 runs to win on the last day ending up drawing the match rather than winning.

Second Era: Around 1996 to 2010 (the middle stage)- This was a period when ODI was becoming fairly popular and the cricket teams were efficient enough to score around 250 to 280 in 50 overs. The practice of ODI games helped the teams to put a score of 400 to 500+ runs on a scoreboard easily in a test inning. The teams were capable enough to play for five consecutive days without getting tired. The teams which had to bat second in test cricket were equally efficient in scoring more runs than the team who played the first innings and putting up a lead. And it never ended up there. Even in the third inning, most teams were capable to score big runs like 400. This depicts how mentally strong were the test players. They were the true examples of carrying the never give up attitude. During this era, we even witnessed a TIED test match between West Indies and Australia when more than 400 runs were scored in the fourth inning.

Third Era: 2011 to Present (Current stage)- This is the time period when Twenty20 format has taken control over the whole cricketing world. Playing the T20 format very frequently has drastically reduced the mental strength of the teams and they have majorly become inconsistent. In other words, we can say that they have become more fearful and it's clearly visible in their test cricket performance. If a team batting first puts up a total of 400 to 500 runs on the scoreboard, the opponent teams automatically lose its morals. They start believing that they lost half of the test match already and their mental hardness is reflected by their low scores. Almost all the teams had surrendered themselves when their opposition scored big in their first innings.

- Written by Harshit Aggarwal

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