The Millon Dollar Question

Is test cricket losing its charm? There is only one answer to that question. Australia are heading towards a humiliating drubbing against England but does it count for much? For all that can be predicted, Australia will dump England the next ashes at home. What matters is the bigger picture.

Test cricket is the most demanding form of the sport, and watching 5 days may not be appealing to many but quality test cricket is what all beckon. And have we seen quality test cricket in the past well 3-4 years? The answer is a plain, simple and heartbreaking NO.

In this ashes itself only 14 days of play has been possible out of 20. There isn't one but many collective reasons that pinpoint towards contributing to this problem whose extent has been realised just recently. The most prominent of these reasons, is the home advantage. Whilst we constantly grill teams and dissect their performance as to why they fail overseas, we forget to analyse the root cause of this problem- THE PITCHES. It is not conditions that count for much as they are out of our control, it is the pitches that are deliberately 'rigged' in exponential favour of the home team. Be it the sub continent where all pitches will be flat, dry and dusty- A batting paradise initially which slowly converts to an egregious and vicious slow turner, benefitting the spinners (in abundance) and manipulation the other batsmens' to play spin or the seaming green tracks in England and New Zealand with a tinge of bounce and scarcity of carry that make batsmen's life hell or the fast and uncannily bouncy tracks in Australia that have the batsman hiding for cover. Not only do these pitches tilt the balance to the home team by arguably 30%, but also they are successful in negating the opponents' strengths. For instance, spinners are brought completely out of play in Australia and England with unsuitable conditions; causing a problem for teams from the subcontinent that then negate the fast bowlers' effect with turning pitches.

Quality test cricket enshrouds great mental resilience, patience and determination with solid defence and discipline outside off stump on the batsman's part and constant accuracy coupled with discipline and intense patience and skill of moving the ball both ways and in different directions. The onset and exponential advent of limited overs cricket (especially T20s) has not only detracted the fan base from the most demanding and straining form of the game but have also made the batsman more pro active and fussy, snapping the patience and endurance. In the last 3 years, there has been an alarming increase in the scoring rates of the batting team in all 4 innings. This aggressive approach is certainly new and welcome, but it has also cause alarmingly shorter spanning innings in terms of overs along with more proportion of wickets lost. However, the same cant be said for bowlers. There is no dearth of talent there, but the rules hamper their effect to some extent. The onset of two new balls does make it difficult for the batsman to counter the swing bowling in the first 15 to 20 overs, but it also negates reverse swing to a huge extent. Both the new balls only make the first hour difficult, but since they only get 40 to 45 overs old by the 8th over, there is neither reverse nor conventional swing. The Duke ball is used in conditions where it is useful (Australia) as it doesn't swing much and bounces more and the opposite thing can be said for the Kookaburra ball, an advantage that once again the the home team gets the liberty to decide.

So, what next? How can this great game make a comeback? Well the day-night tests look like interesting prospects that can help catch the fans attention as well as maintain a better balance between bat and ball. The pink balls is better visible, moves better and the batsman will have bigger challenges to face under lights. Perhaps the best way to revive the game will be ton reduce the extent of home advantages. It can either be minimized to just the conditions with a neutral pitch being prepared or the regularity of neutral series can be increased. The rules definitely can be made more suited to the game. There could also be a new prospect such as 4 day games or 100 over innings just to add a limited overs aspect. There are problems aplenty but no shortage of solutions either. There is certainly a lot that can be done to reinstall spectators' faith in the longest format of the game.