Test Cricket Prediction and Discussion Thread [self - mod]

[GigaBit]

Cricket is adopting to new format aka T20 and that's the reason why boards are focusing more on t20 then on test. Even in domestic cricket, much focus is on t20 then on odi and test. I agree that with t20 format players who are playing cricket with job can manage cricket.

Ideally there should be a balance between generating money and finding new talent. T20 franchise leagues are good in financial terms for the cricket boards, but younger players don't get much of an opportunity to showcase their skills. Most of the leagues are having an overseas player limit of 4. Remaining 7 slots will be filled by senior players. On the other hand domestic 4-day usually does not feature any overseas players (although county cricket in England is an exception), and provide adequate slots for the younger native players.

But I really don't think that a T20 player can show his skills in domestic cricket. In my opinion, T20 cricket and Domestic Cricket are very different things.

So there should be a setup of domestic cricket based on T20.

Otherwise, it will be more difficult for the players who are actually proficient in shorter formats of cricket to show their skills. And we all know that test cricket is dying and One Day International cricket is also walking on the same path. Yes, it is true that in most of the leagues, the slots of native players are filled with seniors. So it is challenging for players to show their skills in leagues.

So it will be very useful to have a domestic setup with the T20 format. And I don't think the reduction of overseas players in the league cricket teams is possible because people also need entertainment.

Cricket is now more commercial than entertainment. We will never see the cricket which was happen last decade. The interest from the people decreasing day by day. However, from a commercial point of view it has to be extended. But the chance of becoming a good cricket is very less. Due to the impact of T20 cricket, Tests are disappearing and therefore cricket is losing its rhythm. Moreover, in such situations, a cricketer cannot show his talent. If we want to watch good cricket then there is no alternative to Test cricket. I think Test cricket must be given a dignity otherwise cricket will lose its beauty.

[Sithara007]

Cricket is now more commercial than entertainment. We will never see the cricket which was happen last decade. The interest from the people decreasing day by day. However, from a commercial point of view it has to be extended. But the chance of becoming a good cricket is very less. Due to the impact of T20 cricket, Tests are disappearing and therefore cricket is losing its rhythm. Moreover, in such situations, a cricketer cannot show his talent. If we want to watch good cricket then there is no alternative to Test cricket. I think Test cricket must be given a dignity otherwise cricket will lose its beauty.

For cricket, it is a battle of survival. A football match lasts for 90-95 minutes on average. A match of field hockey has even lesser duration and the same can be said about boxing, volleyball and basketball as well. Now coming to test cricket, the average match lasts for around 40 hours, and even after this there is a significant chance that we may not get a result out of it. Obviously under such circumstances cricket is not going to survive in to the 21st century. This was the time when T20 cricket was introduced and it managed to inject new life in to cricket.

[DanWalker]

Cricket is now more commercial than entertainment. We will never see the cricket which was happen last decade. The interest from the people decreasing day by day. However, from a commercial point of view it has to be extended. But the chance of becoming a good cricket is very less. Due to the impact of T20 cricket, Tests are disappearing and therefore cricket is losing its rhythm. Moreover, in such situations, a cricketer cannot show his talent. If we want to watch good cricket then there is no alternative to Test cricket. I think Test cricket must be given a dignity otherwise cricket will lose its beauty.

For cricket, it is a battle of survival. A football match lasts for 90-95 minutes on average. A match of field hockey has even lesser duration and the same can be said about boxing, volleyball and basketball as well. Now coming to test cricket, the average match lasts for around 40 hours, and even after this there is a significant chance that we may not get a result out of it. Obviously under such circumstances cricket is not going to survive in to the 21st century. This was the time when T20 cricket was introduced and it managed to inject new life in to cricket.

I didn't really care much about Test cricket or Twenty20 cricket. There was a time when I enjoyed One-Day International cricket on an average level. Despite the fact that we survived the Covid-19 situation, I feel as though the popularity of One-Day International cricket has also fallen by quite a bit in recent years. Basically, all people want right now is fast action, and in doing so, they do not care about skill as long as they can get it fast.

There is no doubt that the level of cricket right now is at an all-time low since the last decade. In the past, I can recall being excited about watching the Ashes series. However, even that doesn't make me interested in watching test cricket at all. Test cricket is already dead. ODI will also soon be.

[Sithara007]

I didn't really care much about Test cricket or Twenty20 cricket. There was a time when I enjoyed One-Day International cricket on an average level. Despite the fact that we survived the Covid-19 situation, I feel as though the popularity of One-Day International cricket has also fallen by quite a bit in recent years. Basically, all people want right now is fast action, and in doing so, they do not care about skill as long as they can get it fast.

There is no doubt that the level of cricket right now is at an all-time low since the last decade. In the past, I can recall being excited about watching the Ashes series. However, even that doesn't make me interested in watching test cricket at all. Test cricket is already dead. ODI will also soon be.

T20 is the way forward. Test cricket still has a few fie-hard fans, mostly among the middle-aged and elderly age groups. But these guys are still living in the 1980s and the 1990s. We no longer have qualify test players, like we had 2-3 decades ago. And along with the duration, lack of quality is also one of the reasons why the popularity of test cricket is down. Now coming to the ODI, there is a saying in Hindi: na ghar ka, na ghat ka. It is neither favored by the supporters of test cricket, nor by the supporters of the shorter versions.

[BobK71]

I didn't really care much about Test cricket or Twenty20 cricket. There was a time when I enjoyed One-Day International cricket on an average level. Despite the fact that we survived the Covid-19 situation, I feel as though the popularity of One-Day International cricket has also fallen by quite a bit in recent years. Basically, all people want right now is fast action, and in doing so, they do not care about skill as long as they can get it fast.

There is no doubt that the level of cricket right now is at an all-time low since the last decade. In the past, I can recall being excited about watching the Ashes series. However, even that doesn't make me interested in watching test cricket at all. Test cricket is already dead. ODI will also soon be.

T20 is the way forward. Test cricket still has a few fie-hard fans, mostly among the middle-aged and elderly age groups. But these guys are still living in the 1980s and the 1990s. We no longer have qualify test players, like we had 2-3 decades ago. And along with the duration, lack of quality is also one of the reasons why the popularity of test cricket is down. Now coming to the ODI, there is a saying in Hindi: na ghar ka, na ghat ka. It is neither favored by the supporters of test cricket, nor by the supporters of the shorter versions.

Supporters of test cricket are usually those above 40 years who love this cricket the most. As a result with the change of times, the number of older supporters reduce, according to the situation it seems that there will be no more Test cricket. Basically there is nothing for anyone to do. The way the world is changing, it is easy to understand that long-term cricket will not last long. Along with Test cricket, ODI cricket will also be under threat.

[DanWalker]

~snip~

T20 is the way forward. Test cricket still has a few fie-hard fans, mostly among the middle-aged and elderly age groups. But these guys are still living in the 1980s and the 1990s. We no longer have qualify test players, like we had 2-3 decades ago. And along with the duration, lack of quality is also one of the reasons why the popularity of test cricket is down. Now coming to the ODI, there is a saying in Hindi: na ghar ka, na ghat ka. It is neither favored by the supporters of test cricket, nor by the supporters of the shorter versions.

Nevertheless, there are still a lot of fans who enjoy test cricket a lot and have a lot of time to spare to watch it. In addition to that, there are some people who actually care about skills. It is true that there are a lot of people who don't agree with this statement, however test cricket actually needs the most scale out of any other format of cricket.

As a matter of fact, test cricket has become something that is not popular anymore, and in some instances, people don't even care about the sport anymore. In addition, I believe that people will also get used to it with time as well. In terms of numbers, there are not that many people who are still fans of test cricket. As of right now, the ICC's main priority should be to focus on T20 cricket.

[crunck]

T20 is the way forward. Test cricket still has a few fie-hard fans, mostly among the middle-aged and elderly age groups. But these guys are still living in the 1980s and the 1990s. We no longer have qualify test players, like we had 2-3 decades ago. And along with the duration, lack of quality is also one of the reasons why the popularity of test cricket is down. Now coming to the ODI, there is a saying in Hindi: na ghar ka, na ghat ka. It is neither favored by the supporters of test cricket, nor by the supporters of the shorter versions.

Supporters of test cricket are usually those above 40 years who love this cricket the most. As a result with the change of times, the number of older supporters reduce, according to the situation it seems that there will be no more Test cricket. Basically there is nothing for anyone to do. The way the world is changing, it is easy to understand that long-term cricket will not last long. Along with Test cricket, ODI cricket will also be under threat.

The thing is that the world we live in right now is fast-paced. Everyone wants everything to finish faster. People are way busier now compared to 20, or 30 years back. So people enjoy T20 more as it is more action-packed in a smaller amount of time which is more enjoyable than test cricket, as test cricket is a very slow-paced format which has become backdated. So, it can be said that T20 is the future now.

[Sithara007]

The thing is that the world we live in right now is fast-paced. Everyone wants everything to finish faster. People are way busier now compared to 20, or 30 years back. So people enjoy T20 more as it is more action-packed in a smaller amount of time which is more enjoyable than test cricket, as test cricket is a very slow-paced format which has become backdated. So, it can be said that T20 is the future now.

It's not just that the world has become fast paced. The ICC has also not been very successful in making test cricket more interesting to the audiences. They thought that the World test championship would do the trick, but so far it has been a failure. The main issue remains as such. A lot of matches end up in meaningless draws, even after 5 days of play. The fans get dejected as a result. Flat tracks in sub-continent nations and increased incidents of rain interruptions as a result of climate change further exacerbate this situation.   

[pakhitheboss]

The thing is that the world we live in right now is fast-paced. Everyone wants everything to finish faster. People are way busier now compared to 20, or 30 years back. So people enjoy T20 more as it is more action-packed in a smaller amount of time which is more enjoyable than test cricket, as test cricket is a very slow-paced format which has become backdated. So, it can be said that T20 is the future now.

It's not just that the world has become fast paced. The ICC has also not been very successful in making test cricket more interesting to the audiences. They thought that the World test championship would do the trick, but so far it has been a failure. The main issue remains as such. A lot of matches end up in meaningless draws, even after 5 days of play. The fans get dejected as a result. Flat tracks in sub-continent nations and increased incidents of rain interruptions as a result of climate change further exacerbate this situation.   

A 5 days match cannot become appealing for cricket lovers in an era where T20 format dominates. You simply cannot spend an entire day watching cricket unless you have nothing to do on that day. I do not think ICC is in fault in any ways. It just that 5 days cricket is no longer the only option left for cricket fan. I also believe that this format will stay for sometime now and gradually will fade away.

[TheGreatPython]

A 5 days match cannot become appealing for cricket lovers in an era where T20 format dominates. You simply cannot spend an entire day watching cricket unless you have nothing to do on that day. I do not think ICC is in fault in any ways. It just that 5 days cricket is no longer the only option left for cricket fan. I also believe that this format will stay for sometime now and gradually will fade away.

We are fewer peoples here on this forum and mostly talking things again and again even right now test match is not appealing but still one of the most entertaining format with the introduction of this T20 now it's also having better results and entertainment which is surely a good change from one decade back when we have mostly bore ending of test matches after five days now we have most result in three or four days which is the biggest change for this format and this could be stayed at his best for many years in current shape because we have no positive changes for this.

Just need to do few things which can bring more entertainment but here so called Pig-3 or Pig-4 are surely doing negative impact on this game and this format for their own interest which is never been good deep money links surely involved and things could be not in good way if they will not sit and talk about all concerns which are having to be solved very quickly.

[Sithara007]

A 5 days match cannot become appealing for cricket lovers in an era where T20 format dominates. You simply cannot spend an entire day watching cricket unless you have nothing to do on that day. I do not think ICC is in fault in any ways. It just that 5 days cricket is no longer the only option left for cricket fan. I also believe that this format will stay for sometime now and gradually will fade away.

I partially agree with your argument. But at the same time, at least a part of the cricket fans would watch test cricket, if it is interesting enough. I still remember watching the Ashes series two decades ago, when Australia had legendary players such as Glen McGrath, Shane Warne, Steve Waugh and Brett Lee. The Poms also had their own bunch of legends, such as Nasser Hussain, Mark Ramprakash, Dominic Cork, Michael Atherton and Darren Gough. Those were the days.. And look at the players now.. hardly anyone has the class of the players we had two decades back.

[JSRAW]

~snip~
A 5 days match cannot become appealing for cricket lovers in an era where T20 format dominates. You simply cannot spend an entire day watching cricket unless you have nothing to do on that day. I do not think ICC is in fault in any ways. It just that 5 days cricket is no longer the only option left for cricket fan. I also believe that this format will stay for sometime now and gradually will fade away.

You are looking at wrong.

Test cricket has a dedicated fan base in Australia and England. India has okay representation as well and it's going up tbh, just follow the money in BGT, Ashes, The Pataudi Trophy (Eng vs Ind) or in some extent The freedom trophy (Ind vs SA) deals.

T-20 is a beast and it'll attract more but it won't kill a Test format, at least not in BIG-3. The future is T-20 franchise cricket and ICC tournaments.

The casualty would be Bilateral cricket, rightly so (not test bilateral but LOIS), I would like to see quadrilateral series instead of bilateral.

[BobK71]

The thing is that the world we live in right now is fast-paced. Everyone wants everything to finish faster. People are way busier now compared to 20, or 30 years back. So people enjoy T20 more as it is more action-packed in a smaller amount of time which is more enjoyable than test cricket, as test cricket is a very slow-paced format which has become backdated. So, it can be said that T20 is the future now.

It's not just that the world has become fast paced. The ICC has also not been very successful in making test cricket more interesting to the audiences. They thought that the World test championship would do the trick, but so far it has been a failure. The main issue remains as such. A lot of matches end up in meaningless draws, even after 5 days of play. The fans get dejected as a result. Flat tracks in sub-continent nations and increased incidents of rain interruptions as a result of climate change further exacerbate this situation.   

A 5 days match cannot become appealing for cricket lovers in an era where T20 format dominates. You simply cannot spend an entire day watching cricket unless you have nothing to do on that day. I do not think ICC is in fault in any ways. It just that 5 days cricket is no longer the only option left for cricket fan. I also believe that this format will stay for sometime now and gradually will fade away.

It is true that the world has become mechanized. Now people don't have the time to sit and watch a game for 5 days. It is not possible. Basically this game is made for the purpose of giving pleasure to people. If the audience despises a game, it will not progress in the long run. But it is also true that cricket is not producing such quality players as before. And I think to be a good player he must do well in Test cricket. Test cricket is one of the best ways to improve the quality of a player.

[Juggy777]

The thing is that the world we live in right now is fast-paced. Everyone wants everything to finish faster. People are way busier now compared to 20, or 30 years back. So people enjoy T20 more as it is more action-packed in a smaller amount of time which is more enjoyable than test cricket, as test cricket is a very slow-paced format which has become backdated. So, it can be said that T20 is the future now.

It's not just that the world has become fast paced. The ICC has also not been very successful in making test cricket more interesting to the audiences. They thought that the World test championship would do the trick, but so far it has been a failure. The main issue remains as such. A lot of matches end up in meaningless draws, even after 5 days of play. The fans get dejected as a result. Flat tracks in sub-continent nations and increased incidents of rain interruptions as a result of climate change further exacerbate this situation.   

A 5 days match cannot become appealing for cricket lovers in an era where T20 format dominates. You simply cannot spend an entire day watching cricket unless you have nothing to do on that day. I do not think ICC is in fault in any ways. It just that 5 days cricket is no longer the only option left for cricket fan. I also believe that this format will stay for sometime now and gradually will fade away.

It is true that the world has become mechanized. Now people don't have the time to sit and watch a game for 5 days. It is not possible. Basically this game is made for the purpose of giving pleasure to people. If the audience despises a game, it will not progress in the long run. But it is also true that cricket is not producing such quality players as before. And I think to be a good player he must do well in Test cricket. Test cricket is one of the best ways to improve the quality of a player.

@BobK71 I do agree that Test cricket is no longer entertaining, but if ICC could arrange for more day and night test matches played with pink ball then fans will definitely return to the stands to watch these matches. Furthermore they could tweak the rule and declare no points for drawing the match, and while this would generate lots of backlash but it’ll ensure that all matches will have a guaranteed result which is what the fan’s ultimately want.

[Sithara007]

~~~
The casualty would be Bilateral cricket, rightly so (not test bilateral but LOIS), I would like to see quadrilateral series instead of bilateral.

LOL... forget about any quadrilateral series. We are not witnessing any triangular tournaments for a long time now. After a gap of more than two years, we had a triangular involving New Zealand, Bangladesh and Pakistan this month. Apart from that there have been no attempts to organize such tournaments. Previously, the cricket boards were quite generous and would agree to play such tournaments in neutral venues such as Sharjah, Toronto, Hong Kong, Singapore and even Tangiers. But now they have become more money minded and neutral venues have become a thing of the past.

[BobK71]

The thing is that the world we live in right now is fast-paced. Everyone wants everything to finish faster. People are way busier now compared to 20, or 30 years back. So people enjoy T20 more as it is more action-packed in a smaller amount of time which is more enjoyable than test cricket, as test cricket is a very slow-paced format which has become backdated. So, it can be said that T20 is the future now.

It's not just that the world has become fast paced. The ICC has also not been very successful in making test cricket more interesting to the audiences. They thought that the World test championship would do the trick, but so far it has been a failure. The main issue remains as such. A lot of matches end up in meaningless draws, even after 5 days of play. The fans get dejected as a result. Flat tracks in sub-continent nations and increased incidents of rain interruptions as a result of climate change further exacerbate this situation.  

A 5 days match cannot become appealing for cricket lovers in an era where T20 format dominates. You simply cannot spend an entire day watching cricket unless you have nothing to do on that day. I do not think ICC is in fault in any ways. It just that 5 days cricket is no longer the only option left for cricket fan. I also believe that this format will stay for sometime now and gradually will fade away.

It is true that the world has become mechanized. Now people don't have the time to sit and watch a game for 5 days. It is not possible. Basically this game is made for the purpose of giving pleasure to people. If the audience despises a game, it will not progress in the long run. But it is also true that cricket is not producing such quality players as before. And I think to be a good player he must do well in Test cricket. Test cricket is one of the best ways to improve the quality of a player.

@BobK71 I do agree that Test cricket is no longer entertaining, but if ICC could arrange for more day and night test matches played with pink ball then fans will definitely return to the stands to watch these matches. Furthermore they could tweak the rule and declare no points for drawing the match, and while this would generate lots of backlash but it’ll ensure that all matches will have a guaranteed result which is what the fan’s ultimately want.

I agree with you. If some rules can be changed, the viewer's acceptance of Test cricket can increase. But I am skeptical about how much role ICC will play. If ICC doesn't take any initiative in a cricket format which is on the verge of extinction then I don't think it can do anything by the  cricket board or audience. If they can lift the draw system in Test cricket and give a win or lose result there, it will certainly carry significance of the test cricket.

[JSRAW]

~~~
The casualty would be Bilateral cricket, rightly so (not test bilateral but LOIS), I would like to see quadrilateral series instead of bilateral.

LOL... forget about any quadrilateral series. We are not witnessing any triangular tournaments for a long time now. After a gap of more than two years, we had a triangular involving New Zealand, Bangladesh and Pakistan this month. Apart from that there have been no attempts to organize such tournaments. Previously, the cricket boards were quite generous and would agree to play such tournaments in neutral venues such as Sharjah, Toronto, Hong Kong, Singapore and even Tangiers. But now they have become more money minded and neutral venues have become a thing of the past.

Problem is ICC IMO.

Unfortunately, they are against any type of quadrilateral series because in their point of view they have sole authority on multiple team series and they don't want to lose their grip, also they think it would affect their "Every year ICC tournament concept" hype, spectator fatigue etc. They are okay with the Tri series tho. I think BIG-3 should come up with some sort of consensus.

I would love to see.

Ind vs Eng vs Aus
Ind vs SA vs NZ
Ind vs SL vs Ban
Ind vs Afg vs WI

Meanwhile Ind A vs Associate nations at the same time.

[Sithara007]

~~~
Meanwhile Ind A vs Associate nations at the same time.
~~~

This is a good suggestion, but unfortunately the BCCI doesn't want the second string players to visit foreign nations. A few weeks ago, the West Bengal cricket team got an invitation from the Namibian cricket board to visit that country. But at the last minute their participation was cancelled due to BCCI refusing to approve the tour. The importance of U-23 and A team tours have gone down in India. And it was a big loss for the younger players, especially the ones who are not suitable for the T20 format.

[SirLancelot]

~~~
Meanwhile Ind A vs Associate nations at the same time.
~~~

This is a good suggestion, but unfortunately the BCCI doesn't want the second string players to visit foreign nations. A few weeks ago, the West Bengal cricket team got an invitation from the Namibian cricket board to visit that country. But at the last minute their participation was cancelled due to BCCI refusing to approve the tour. The importance of U-23 and A team tours have gone down in India. And it was a big loss for the younger players, especially the ones who are not suitable for the T20 format.

West Bengal tour was cancelled due to presence of Lahore Qalanders as BCCI not want to have any link or tournament where Pakistan or their domestic teams are playing but here now as they are rich and have enough sources they can do good things for Associate countries which will be surely helpful for them and associate countries like @JSRAW saying bringing tri-series with India A and associate countries which is not bad idea which will give them good chance of having four-day matches as well.

But, here I am feeling BCCI is not interested in any development they are just looking for more money and personal interests which are surely not going to be filled with these things and their stance about not allowing U23 and A teams tour of other countries are ales wired because this was doing good around two decades back and now again can bring better results for them and youths.

[laurenB7742]

~~~
Meanwhile Ind A vs Associate nations at the same time.
~~~

This is a good suggestion, but unfortunately the BCCI doesn't want the second string players to visit foreign nations. A few weeks ago, the West Bengal cricket team got an invitation from the Namibian cricket board to visit that country. But at the last minute their participation was cancelled due to BCCI refusing to approve the tour. The importance of U-23 and A team tours have gone down in India. And it was a big loss for the younger players, especially the ones who are not suitable for the T20 format.

It feels to me that the India cricket board does not give enough importance to players in the pipeline at all. That, I think, is a very big issue for all the countries in the subcontinent. One of the reasons why India does not feel too much of the effects of the economic downturn is because they have a very large population. As a matter of fact, it is very easy to get talented players on the team even if they don't care about the second team players. It is always going to be the players who are genuinely talented who will come forward to lead the team. Especially in T20 because IPL is a suitable platform for that.

Those who wish to step up through 50 overs cricket or test cricket, on the other hand, may find it very challenging to do so. Because all the spotlight almost always gets taken by the IPL. The other players have a really hard time making a name for themselves in the game.