Written By - SUBHRADEEP CHOUDHURY
No. No. No. And No. , Not even: No thanks. Not later or maybe or let’s see. That’s the discussion of the debate over whether test matches should be restricted to four days instead of five.
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| Image Source - Pixabay |
Interestingly, a majority of players of past and present have come out against the idea. They believe that the format is sacred and shouldn’t be touched. The discussion about reducing the test matches day by day would only make room for an even more crowded calendar and destroy the character of the format in the upcoming days. Actually, we live in a sporting world that’s dominated mostly by greed in forming the game.
PRESENT THINKING :
Just before holding the initial day-night test match between IND and neighbour Bangladesh, the Indian skipper Virat Kohli went on to say that he wasn’t fully satisfied about the fact that helding this kind of pink ball games would be the way to go. Playing at a different kind of time might not be the way of making the game more attractive. And in that case, Kohli is not too much happy about changing the structure of the five day test matches. And like Kohli, who is the product of modern day Cricket ecosystem, others are not really convinced of changing the format more.
THE SCENARIO :
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| Image Source - Unsplash |
In any version of the real world, test cricket shouldn’t exist. Because of the pace of the modern age, to bring more spectators in the stadiums and connect to the game, the thinking is to reduce the length of the game. There will be 98 overs per day instead of 90. But what about producing a result ?? Still there are resultless games in the 5day games. Leave the thinking of getting those results in the new version.
EFFECTS OF THE NEW VERSION :
- RESULTLESS GAMES :
As we have already spoken about in some of the real clashes we may not be able to offer results in all the games. But if we just reduce the game, will we really produce some more results in the game ??? Really ???
- MAY NOT BOWL THE FULL QUOTA OF 98 OVERS :
In some of the places, like Eng, AUS, SA where the pacy fast bowlers are more dominating than the spinners, where they can’t really bowl those 90 overs, it’s really hard to think about bowling those 98 overs per day.
- LOOSE THE REAL MEANING OF TEST :
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| Image Source - Unsplash |
Test Cricket is all about passion. The batsmen come to the crease, understand the behaviour of the pitch, adjust themseves and score runs freely without taking much risk. For the bowlers, it’s all about bowling in the right line and length for a long consistant period. And the reduction in the days of playing may change the real meaning of test.
- INVENTING ANOTHER FORMAT :
T-20 format is being invented from the 50 over format to make the game more exciting and more attractive. Later, we transformed the format to 10 over games and now the 100 ball games. So, already we have 5 formats. What’s the thinking about making it 6..???.. now, about making the 5day game to 4 day game, may be one day, all will feel that we need 3day games to produce more pace.
- EFFECT OF THE FIFTH DAY :
Take away the fifth day from the game, and you may take away the need to building all those variations. You would miss the most important nature of spin, the diversity in team roles, weather, physical capacity, with 4days of tired legs and body how you react on the last day – all of these you may miss.
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| Women's Test Cricket | Source - Wikipedia |
Slow change, frustration, dullness, last half an hour; test cricket tell us about our life. The most unforgettable moments – Jack Leach running a single, Monty Panesar blocking for half an hour, Herath with all the blows in the body, those small things are the part and parcel of the game and all these may not be found in the 4 day games.
PRESENT SITUATION OF TEST CRICKET:
What explains the ability of test cricket to hold out against such odds ?? Of course, there is no people who argue that test cricket is dying. It’s recognized that something needs to be done with the current way of test cricket and the recent test championship is an powerful attempt to this direction. The ashes of 2019 and some of the exciting series have blown away all the doubts that test cricket is no more.
HANDSOME PROOF :
The 5-day game is still very exciting, specially from the last year. Need some proof ??? Come to Cape Town and observe Eng's glorious hard fought victory in second test against South Africa in the final day. To get the proper feel of test match's span, it’s necessary to look back down to the timeline. Consider Sibley's hard fought, slow, crabby innings where he played so late. Finally, with the 100 he made the game so much exciting. The 4-day game may not be able to offer these things.
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| Image Source - Pixabay |
THE FINAL THINKING :
So, all in all, that’s the big thinking going on. Yes change is necessary. Change is often a good thing in its own right. There is no argument over creating a four day test that has nothing to do with saving money. Not every test match has a result. Not every result is exciting. Wickets may not fall. Runs may not be scored. Not every match reaches an edge of the seat of climax. Still test matches bring sheer joy to the real cricket lovers.
Now it’s all about the final dicision. Five days of test cricket, this is a peerless form of beauty, something that can not be achieved in other ways. Now it’s a high time to see what the ICC thinks right to do. Time to pick a side.
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