The England and Wales Cricket Board’s (ECB) decision to launch a 100-ball cricket tournament in 2020 will be another nail in the coffin of Test cricket.
The ECB’s so-called pioneering idea of getting new audiences for the sport is mere eyewash. The truth is like the other boards, the whole move is driven by greed for money. If they were so concerned about the game, they should reform the existing formats first before thinking of new ones.
Take the World Cup which will be held in England next year. Instead of adding teams, they cut two. This brought heartaches to regular teams like Zimbabwe and Ireland who fought hard in the qualifiers. But they failed to make the cut.
Ireland are set to play their first Test match soon and they must be feeling rotten that they couldn’t make the World Cup. Being giant-killers in the past, Ireland’s absence robs the tournament of a bit of charm.
The ECB, like the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), is only concerned about money. The BCCI only recently agreed to the idea of a day/night Test during the home series against the West Indies.
Day/night Tests have been welcomed in a big way but the BCCI is caught in its own narrow-minded, sometimes sadistic, show of power and took time over the decision.
The same thing happened with the DRS with India being the last to agree to it. This is nothing short of bloody-mindedness. Technology has to be embraced for the betterment of the sport but there are some powerful bodies who think otherwise.
Coming back to the ECB, their plan is to have a 15 six-ball overs and one over of 10 balls, potentially allowing more than one bowler to deliver it.
They are also thinking of doing away with the leg before dismissal to make the game more interesting.
It may be an uphill task to convince the generally old-fashioned English clubs and their cricketers who believe strongly in tradition.
The initial reaction from some cricketers has not been too enthusiastic but only time will tell. Another question that arises from this is – do we need another shorter version of the game when Twenty20 already exists?
There is already a surfeit of these games and they do draw crowds. Furthermore, these shorter versions are causing damage indirectly.
The T20 has already created a bunch of cricketers who only survive in that format – technique be damned.
Lucrative contracts in the Indian Premier League and the Big Bash among others have fetched large contracts for players. It is the ambition of every cricketer to be in these leagues.
Even Test quality players forget techniques and go have a bash and pick up bad habits.
Improvising is the order of the day. For example, a great Test off-spinner like Ravichandran Ashwin has to learn leg spin to survive in this format. So instead of thinking up shorter versions, all the boards of cricketing nations must get together and do something about saving the purest form of cricket – Tests.
There is enough room for all forms to survive but the onus lies with the boards.
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#All views expressed in this column are those of the author and Pune365 does not necessarily subscribe to them.
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