Flicking between the two tests played this week has been pretty dreary, even for an absolute cricket junky like myself. Are games like this killing test cricket? The pitches have no pace or bounce, and rely on batsmen getting so bored they get themselves out. This isn't what test cricket is meant to be about. There is meant to be a decent contest between bat and ball, not something so biased towards batting that bowlers just give up.
This problem isn't limited to the sub-continent. Australia is serving up batting paradises that are similiarly unfair to the bowlers. No spectators are going to pay decent money to watch a yawn-fest, when tickets are so expensive. Sadly, I can see more and more people chosing to go to ODIs and 20/20s rather than Tests. Already the trends are there in India and Pakistan, with the grounds packed for meaningless ODIs, and often empty for test matches. And that is really depressing.
I hope that the ICC starts to take some action on this issue, or the test match that we love may well become economically unviable, and therefore be abandonded by the money-driven authorities that rule the game today.
Thursday, December 13, 2007
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6 comments:
The officials want 5 day tests, but we all fall asleep by the 3rd day.
Not good at all. Curiously, the curators were flown in from somewhere for this "new combination of soils" pitch. Can't say it worked like magic.
Let's just say "evolving".
LOL
Thanks for sharing the eBay Best of the Best link Stuart. I won!
Congratulations on your win DB. I now hope that the book isn't a let down after my promotion of it!
Any idea how the experiment on using artificial pitches went? Can it be tailor made to produce different conditions?
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