Gilly’s 09 Cowdrey Idea’s

On June 24 Adam Gilchrist gave the 2009 Cowdrey Lecture to the MCC.

I was particularly interested in what he had to say about Test Match cricket and it’s possible future.

He talked about why Twenty20 is doing so well, using an analogy, limited overs cricket is like the DVD where test cricket is the old video tape.

“Twenty20 cricket  has the great advantage of being able to slot directly into the one-day financial template. A bit like ejecting the one-day dvd from your player, taking it out and inserting a Twenty20 dvd into the same machine.”

Gilly said that the pluses of test cricket are also it’s problems.

Test Cricket is the toughest form of cricket, and one of the toughest in the world, by lasting over 5 days.

It tests mental and physical strength, fitting it’s name perfectly.

However, taking the length of time it does, it is unable to pull the audiences and the financial aspect needed.

The solution Gilchrist has is a tad unusual, but does make some sence.

He says to let Twenty20 roar ahead as it is, pulling crowds from round the world and introducing more people to cricket, and reduce the number of test matches played turning the test into a sought after event, something out of the ordinary.

This way people may flood to grounds to watch these matches, as the chance to see a test will be minimized.

Ayaz Memon of dnaindia.com has a similar thought to Gilchrist, but would like to see one other change made.

He would like to see “a staggered two-year world championship between all Test teams played out in different ‘cricketing zones’ (e.g the Indian sub-continent, Australasia, England, the Caribbeans, Africa) would not only provide engrossing cricket, but also a worthy world champion.”

Personally I think this would be a great idea, and would increase interest in test matches.

It is worth having a read of what Gilchrist had to say, just click the link at the top of the page.

Anything that will save test matches without dramatically changing it’s rules, im all for!

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Freelance Cricketer?

Three years ago James Franklin was the guest speaker at my schools sport’s awards.

Andrew Symonds: Test cricketer no longer

I was able to chat with him and talk about where he saw cricket going in the near future.

He didn’t talk about test matches being doomed or Twenty20 cricket taking over, he said he expected players to improve the way they play to new levels, with players being able to play with both hands for example.

In a way he is right, when it comes to batting the reverse sweep, reverse slog, well the reverse anything appears to be finding it’s way into cricket.

So I wonder if he is at all that shocked now when one of the most inovative cricketers may become a freelance.

Andrew Symonds, cast out by Cricket Australia for his drinking problems has been reported to be wanted by South African T20 teams.

Symonds does it all, bowls spin, bowls medium pace, bats, switch hits, athletic in the field, he is the all round cricketer, and he could net around NZ$190,000 with a South African team.

Add onto this his pay packet at the Deccan Chargers in the IPL ($2.1 mil) and a possible pay check from English Side Hampshire in their T20 league, and Symonds would be one of, if not the highest paid player player in the world.

My question after hearing this is, will our top test cricketers come to the point where they go freelance to bring in the money?

If they do, it will have a knock on effect for tests, with attendance dropping as the skill level goes down, media not being as interested, you can see where this is going.

Fortunately, I struggle to imagine a world where our top cricketers would decide to chose cash over country.

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Test cricket’s shortcomings

If there is one thing the Twenty20 World Cup is showing me, it is that any team can go out and win against any opponent.

It is the same quality that makes baseball so popular in the USA, and why it is growing on me, there can be a clear favorite, but the underdog can triumph.

The Netherlands stunned England, Bangladesh were shocked by Ireland, it makes the whole tournament more exciting as each team has to field the best side possible.

The respect New Zealand, Pakistan and Sri Lanka showed Ireland in the Super 8’s showed the fear that the developed cricketing nations have of the minnows.

Test Matches do not have this kind of intrigue.

How often do you watch a Test match now and feel the result is a foregone conclusion.

When teams tour New Zealand, it is very seldom that I feel New Zealand have a chance of winning.

Although it does not douse my interest in the tour, I am fairly confident it leaves many fans wondering whether to bother watching the matches.

This affects the money coming through the gates, which in turn limits the reasons why you would have a Test Match series in the country.

Simply put, if test cricket does not get more competitive the interest in the game will dwindle.

The Ashes series is generally a well fought test series, as are any India-Australia test series, and in turn the crowd turn out is massive.

If we had this same interest around the globe for the majority of tests, there would be no doubts in the future of the game.

It may be a bit of a silly message, but the middle to lower ranked test teams simply need to get better, or else people will not see the need to watch their national team play.

Who enjoys watching their country lose?

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Evening Tests?

“Great crowd in today folk’s, 800 people have watched the days play!”

That is a typical first day at a Test Match in New Zealand, people trickling in during the day but not sticking around.

With Tests being played on weekdays the fans that bring the money through the gates just cannot make it.

By the time they finish work at 5, there will only be an hour or so of play remaining, barely worth the entrance fee.

During the weekend we can expect crowds five or six times larger as people make a day of it, bringing the picnic down, throwing back a few beers and listening the Mrs complain about how “it’s more exciting to watch paint dry!”

In Perth earlier this year, the Australian Cricket decided to try something a little different.

Each day of the test started at a later time, and ran through till 8.30pm, about an hour before dark falls.

The crowds were the biggest seen during the series because kid’s could get out of school and watch 5 hours play, and people who have day jobs could leave work and watch some quality cricket, not just umpires glancing into a light meter.

Perhaps this is the answer in some places to boost attendance and bring more interest into tests.

In New Zealand it would never work to that extent, but in most cases you could certainly extend play till just after Seven.

Dean Jones of the Age in Australia talked about this, and perhaps taking it to another level by introducing night tests.

Ofcourse this would mean that we would be forced to use a white ball, and cricket purists would be disgusted with that, but is it the way we may need to head?

It would boost attendance, you would sell more beer and it would renew interest in a form of cricket which has not changed since they abolished the underarm bowling.

It may be a radical change but it is food for thought, and in the mean time, why don’t we try something new, extending the time in which we play.

If it helps to save the long form of the game, it has to be worth a go!

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Where ODI’s are winning.

When I sit back and dare to dream about what playing international cricket would be like, I don’t think about One Dayers or Twenty20’s, I think about taking 5 wickets in a Test Match Innings.

Why then is it that there are talks of whether Test Cricket will last, what with Twenty20 generating millions through the IPL and World Cup, and giving players fairly healthy bank balances.

The Boxing Day test at the Basin Reserve in Wellington gathered the biggest crowds to test matches in New Zealand and seemed to be becoming a tradition.

In 2004 New Zealand cricket decided to swap it for a One Day International instead. Why? Because it was more of a money earner.

Why play a test match during these peak times when you can play two or three ODI’s in the same period and get 50,000 more people through the gates?

This was only a couple of years after the England and Wales Cricket Board chairman Giles Clarke said he wanted to give County Cricket in England the chop, as it was ‘not economically viable.’

It appears views about the money involved in the longer form of cricket have been taken aboard by cricket boards around the globe, but not to the extent Clarke had wanted.

With Twenty20 being introduced into the international fold, it has further plunged test cricket’s future into doubt.

Twenty20 cricket was thought up after Stuart Robertson, a marketer at the English Cricket Board, was asked to create a game that would renew interest in the game in the UK.

He simply worked out how many overs could be fit into a three hour period after people finished work, so from 5.30 onwards.

The aim is to get as many people to the game as possible, something tests struggle with being played through the week.

Tests are not losing out through complete lack of interest, but through a combination of money making and there being more interest in the exciting form at this time.

So for now, Twenty20 will win the ratings game thanks to the timing of the games and the excitment. I guess the real test is, how do we get people through the gates during Test Matches?

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