The Death of Test Cricket
The longest game of chess ever played was a 20 hour long duel between two certain oddly named individuals in 1989 in Belgrade. But that’s besides the point. The point being that games where a certain strategy is required to defeat your opponent usually span
out for a longer duration. Every single move of the “enemy” is monitored and a strategy devised to counter it in a manner that creates a scenario where recovery might not even be an option. The five day game of cricket is similar to chess due to the fact that
it too is a battle of the minds. A test of character. A grinder for the weak.
This is where the captain comes in. A skipper who is able to think a number of steps ahead of his adversary, counter his every move, make a better strategy and motivate his troops better than his competitor, and can thus finally claim greatness. It’s about
recognizing your strengths and being aware of your weaknesses. It’s about lifting the mood when the chips are down and the adversary’s smirk lands a killer blow with every step that he takes towards victory.
Stephen Fleming the former http://www.senore.com/Cricket/New-Zealand-c754 captain was a perfect example of a brilliant leader. The New Zealand team that he captained had players with limited ability but who were determined individuals. Fleming lead from the front, organized his resources
brilliantly, was able to motivate his players into delivering match winning performances against oppositions who had better players at their disposal and was responsible for the success of the Kiwis on numerous occasions.
Test cricket on the whole, is what differentiates the boys from the men. The five day game is all about being at your absolute best on every single day of the match. It is a test of mental strength and character. http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Bangladesh-c747 was granted the status of a test
playing nation in the year 2000. Bangladesh has never won a test match. The reason being plain and simple: if you are not the best team on every single day of the match, you are not going to win.
In 2003 a terrible plague was forced upon cricket. It was called “Twenty 20” and it consisted of a match between two teams consisting of twenty overs for each side. A bowler could bowl a maximum of 4 overs during the innings and if a no-ball was bowled,
the batsman was rewarded with a “free-hit” where the bowler would bowl a ball immediately after the no-ball and the batsman could try hitting it as hard as he could with the benefit of not getting out in case of being bowled, or caught. It was a case of making
cricket popular with the masses by having a run-fest. The aim was to annihilate bowling attacks, attract huge crowds on the basis that people love seeing bowlers being hit all over the park and to bring in more cricket playing nations.
Fair enough. Money is what matters. Money is what drives the sport. Money is what motivates players. It’s all about the money. But what about the people who love the sport? What about those who love real cricket? What about people who watch every single
ball of a test match with the same level of interest? What about those who love the ups and downs and the rivalries that only test cricket provides?
There is another dimension to this plague of “Twenty 20” that has inflicted cricket. Suppose X is a bowler making his debut in a Twenty 20 match. X has 4 overs to prove himself to the world. X gets smacked for a four the first ball he bowls. The second ball
of the over bowled by X is a no-ball. Free hit. Welcome to the world of pain my debut-making friend. The point is, Twenty 20 is killing bowlers. Twenty 20 is murdering test cricket. Twenty 20 is a vendor’s hot dog served in a Michelin star restaurant.
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