Test Cricket Prediction and Discussion Thread [self - mod]

[JSRAW]

^^ Good read..

Cricket has changed so much after t-20 and it's really tough for new generation fast bowlers to reach or even touch such milestones. 150+ test and 600 wickets are not easy.  If by any chance cricket boards taking care of their bowlers financially and they are playing only test format then some bowlers has some chance atleast. English bowlers has edge over others as they play 10+ test every year.

[Haunebu]

Cricket has changed so much after t-20 and it's really tough for new generation fast bowlers to reach or even touch such milestones. 150+ test and 600 wickets are not easy.  If by any chance cricket boards taking care of their bowlers financially and they are playing only test format then some bowlers has some chance atleast. English bowlers has edge over others as they play 10+ test every year.

Many players retire early these days due to the hectic schedules and the huge money making opportunities in Cricket these days due to which such huge records such as 600+ test wickets etc will probably never be broken.

Even ODI records are tough to break these days unless you are very consistent like Kohli or Smith. The focus has shifted towards the T-20 format in recent years and only time will tell whether this was the right direction or not.

[Vishnu.Reang]

^^ Good read..

Cricket has changed so much after t-20 and it's really tough for new generation fast bowlers to reach or even touch such milestones. 150+ test and 600 wickets are not easy.  If by any chance cricket boards taking care of their bowlers financially and they are playing only test format then some bowlers has some chance atleast. English bowlers has edge over others as they play 10+ test every year.

If some of the fast bowlers want to play 150 plus test matches, then they need to stop playing the shorter formats. As JSRAW pointed out, very few teams play more than 10 test matches a year. So if someone wants to reach that milestone, then he needs to play continuously for 15 years and at the same time he needs to be included in the squad. Under current circumstances, it is very unlikely that any of the younger players may reach that milestone.

[Indymoney]

^^ Good read..

Cricket has changed so much after t-20 and it's really tough for new generation fast bowlers to reach or even touch such milestones. 150+ test and 600 wickets are not easy.  If by any chance cricket boards taking care of their bowlers financially and they are playing only test format then some bowlers has some chance atleast. English bowlers has edge over others as they play 10+ test every year.

If some of the fast bowlers want to play 150 plus test matches, then they need to stop playing the shorter formats. As JSRAW pointed out, very few teams play more than 10 test matches a year. So if someone wants to reach that milestone, then he needs to play continuously for 15 years and at the same time he needs to be included in the squad. Under current circumstances, it is very unlikely that any of the younger players may reach that milestone.

Now in future its very difficult we will have any player who able to play for 15 to 20 years because now new generation is not capable of this few years back we have too many ledendry players those spent some long time without any serious injury or problem now mostly we have injury porn generation Anderson is one of best players as he is going in record books first fast bowler to achieve this now I am feeling just Broad can acheive this in near future.

[Vishnu.Reang]

Now in future its very difficult we will have any player who able to play for 15 to 20 years because now new generation is not capable of this few years back we have too many ledendry players those spent some long time without any serious injury or problem now mostly we have injury porn generation Anderson is one of best players as he is going in record books first fast bowler to achieve this now I am feeling just Broad can acheive this in near future.

I am 100% certain that Broad would be able to reach the 600 mark, unless some serious injury destroys his career (he had extended injury breaks during his test career in the past). As of now, he has 514 wickets from 143 matches. I don't want him to end up like Dale Steyn. I have always considered Steyn to be the best fast bowler to play the sport of cricket since WW2. But his test career got derailed due to a variety of reasons, including injury and lack of support from the cricket board.

[Swordsoffreedom]

^^ Good read..

Cricket has changed so much after t-20 and it's really tough for new generation fast bowlers to reach or even touch such milestones. 150+ test and 600 wickets are not easy.  If by any chance cricket boards taking care of their bowlers financially and they are playing only test format then some bowlers has some chance atleast. English bowlers has edge over others as they play 10+ test every year.

If some of the fast bowlers want to play 150 plus test matches, then they need to stop playing the shorter formats. As JSRAW pointed out, very few teams play more than 10 test matches a year. So if someone wants to reach that milestone, then he needs to play continuously for 15 years and at the same time he needs to be included in the squad. Under current circumstances, it is very unlikely that any of the younger players may reach that milestone.

It is very difficult to play for 15 consecutive years and stay connected to the team uninterruptedly.  it is really hard because test players are often injured. so, they can't play all the series. on the other hand, teams like Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh are not even completing 5 test matches in a year. so, it is just impossible for their players to reach such milestones.

[JSRAW]

Now in future its very difficult we will have any player who able to play for 15 to 20 years because now new generation is not capable of this few years back we have too many ledendry players those spent some long time without any serious injury or problem now mostly we have injury porn generation Anderson is one of best players as he is going in record books first fast bowler to achieve this now I am feeling just Broad can acheive this in near future.

I am 100% certain that Broad would be able to reach the 600 mark, unless some serious injury destroys his career (he had extended injury breaks during his test career in the past). As of now, he has 514 wickets from 143 matches. I don't want him to end up like Dale Steyn. I have always considered Steyn to be the best fast bowler to play the sport of cricket since WW2. But his test career got derailed due to a variety of reasons, including injury and lack of support from the cricket board.

For Broad it should be easy, no more test for England this year so may be he might get close to at least 550 ish next year even if his form goes down, which is unlikely.

I never heard Proteas not supporting Dale Steyn but yeah his test career took a hit due to his injuries. I remember his deadly spell back in 2010 against India in the subcontinent where he single handedly demolished the Indian defense without breaking a sweat.

[Vishnu.Reang]

For Broad it should be easy, no more test for England this year so may be he might get close to at least 550 ish next year even if his form goes down, which is unlikely.

I never heard Proteas not supporting Dale Steyn but yeah his test career took a hit due to his injuries. I remember his deadly spell back in 2010 against India in the subcontinent where he single handedly demolished the Indian defense without breaking a sweat.

2-3 decades ago, the best fast bowlers used to be South Africans. The list is quite long, and includes Alan Donald, Shaun Pollock, Fanie de Villiers, André Nel.etc. Dale Steyn was perhaps the last world class fast bowler produced by South Africa. The current bunch is quite ordinary and that is one of the reasons why South Africa is struggling against the Big 3 teams.

[JSRAW]

For Broad it should be easy, no more test for England this year so may be he might get close to at least 550 ish next year even if his form goes down, which is unlikely.

I never heard Proteas not supporting Dale Steyn but yeah his test career took a hit due to his injuries. I remember his deadly spell back in 2010 against India in the subcontinent where he single handedly demolished the Indian defense without breaking a sweat.

2-3 decades ago, the best fast bowlers used to be South Africans. The list is quite long, and includes Alan Donald, Shaun Pollock, Fanie de Villiers, André Nel.etc. Dale Steyn was perhaps the last world class fast bowler produced by South Africa. The current bunch is quite ordinary and that is one of the reasons why South Africa is struggling against the Big 3 teams.

Its not that they lack talent, they have fair amount of talented players but their politics and racial drama #ucking everything for them.. Just look at the recent drama in CSA management, they are sacking CEO every now then and dragging each other into court rooms.

[FIFA worldcup]

A new twist in game England takes 4th wicket through Root now Anderson going with new ball can they take remaining 6 wickets in 18 overs very interesting end of this rain hit match.
Edit: now we have 17 overs left and Babar and Fawad on crease Anderson and Broad on ball

The match ended as another boring draw, which is a great injustice to the sport. It is a loss to everyone. The fans waited patiently despite the numerous rain interruptions and ground inspections, the English players were left frustrated as this was the last test for the year 2020 and finally the TV broadcasters couldn't believe their bad luck. Can the ICC just ignore this issue? So many matches are getting wasted as a result of rain. Don't they want to take any actions?

Take action against whom ? Rain is in no one control and the weather in England is unpredictable and you cannot scheduled matches according to the weather forecasts. Yes, it was disappointing because we wanted to watch the teams in action after the long pause because of covid-19.

Only thing if can be done in such cases is that either play in the closed stadium during such times or else not to play matches during rain time. Another thing due to Covid matches or series anyways were cancelled so this series happening itself is a good thing though we can say it was bad luck that rain played a vital role in this series.

As i told in my last post, the matches are schedules many months before and therefore we cannot predict on the match day. Secondly, i don't think England has the facility of closed stadiums. If they had then surely the matches wouldn't be affected by the weather.

[SaShiRaJaVu]

I am 100% certain that Broad would be able to reach the 600 mark, unless some serious injury destroys his career (he had extended injury breaks during his test career in the past). As of now, he has 514 wickets from 143 matches. I don't want him to end up like Dale Steyn. I have always considered Steyn to be the best fast bowler to play the sport of cricket since WW2. But his test career got derailed due to a variety of reasons, including injury and lack of support from the cricket board.

Anderson and Broad are playing only one format and they are getting enough rest so that they could play every Test match and avoid getting injured. England have a problem once they retire as they lack good fast bowlers in the longer version that could trouble the batsman.
Dale Steyn is an exceptional talent but to call him the best fast bowler post WW2 when you have Akram and Waqqar Younis and the West Indies bowlers in the 70s and 80s and the fast bowlers Australia had and Glenn McGrath are exceptional in that regard.

[MFahad]

For Broad it should be easy, no more test for England this year so may be he might get close to at least 550 ish next year even if his form goes down, which is unlikely.

I never heard Proteas not supporting Dale Steyn but yeah his test career took a hit due to his injuries. I remember his deadly spell back in 2010 against India in the subcontinent where he single handedly demolished the Indian defense without breaking a sweat.

2-3 decades ago, the best fast bowlers used to be South Africans. The list is quite long, and includes Alan Donald, Shaun Pollock, Fanie de Villiers, André Nel.etc. Dale Steyn was perhaps the last world class fast bowler produced by South Africa. The current bunch is quite ordinary and that is one of the reasons why South Africa is struggling against the Big 3 teams.

There are few teams which are unable to produce the same quality of bowlers as they had few decades ago. South Africa is one of them and the other country is Pakistan. They miss the reverse swing talent of Waseem, Waqar and shoaib akhtar.

[Vishnu.Reang]

Its not that they lack talent, they have fair amount of talented players but their politics and racial drama #ucking everything for them.. Just look at the recent drama in CSA management, they are sacking CEO every now then and dragging each other into court rooms.

It is not just the racial tensions. I would rate the CSA as one of the most incompetent and corrupt cricket governance bodies among the test nations. They would even give the Zimbabwe board a run for their money in this regard. I agree that the talent is still there. But a lot of the younger South African players think that grabbing a European passport and going Kolpak is the only viable option they got.

[MFahad]

Its not that they lack talent, they have fair amount of talented players but their politics and racial drama #ucking everything for them.. Just look at the recent drama in CSA management, they are sacking CEO every now then and dragging each other into court rooms.

It is not just the racial tensions. I would rate the CSA as one of the most incompetent and corrupt cricket governance bodies among the test nations. They would even give the Zimbabwe board a run for their money in this regard. I agree that the talent is still there. But a lot of the younger South African players think that grabbing a European passport and going Kolpak is the only viable option they got.

If they don't find a decent opportunity at home, then there is no option left for the players. They just cant stay in their country if they got the talent and outside world is willing to hire them for good rates.

[Vishnu.Reang]

If they don't find a decent opportunity at home, then there is no option left for the players. They just cant stay in their country if they got the talent and outside world is willing to hire them for good rates.

It is a combination of many factors. Domestic teams are allowed only five (out of the 11) on the basis of merit. The remaining six players come from racial quota. On top of this, the number of domestic first class teams stand at just 6 in South Africa (for comparison, this is 18 in England and 37 in India). So only 30 white players can represent the domestic sides. Salaries are also quite low. South African domestic teams usually pay around 1/4th or 1/5th of the salary that the English county teams pay.

[Juggy777]

Its not that they lack talent, they have fair amount of talented players but their politics and racial drama #ucking everything for them.. Just look at the recent drama in CSA management, they are sacking CEO every now then and dragging each other into court rooms.

It is not just the racial tensions. I would rate the CSA as one of the most incompetent and corrupt cricket governance bodies among the test nations. They would even give the Zimbabwe board a run for their money in this regard. I agree that the talent is still there. But a lot of the younger South African players think that grabbing a European passport and going Kolpak is the only viable option they got.

If they don't find a decent opportunity at home, then there is no option left for the players. They just cant stay in their country if they got the talent and outside world is willing to hire them for good rates.

It is a combination of many factors. Domestic teams are allowed only five (out of the 11) on the basis of merit. The remaining six players come from racial quota. On top of this, the number of domestic first class teams stand at just 6 in South Africa (for comparison, this is 18 in England and 37 in India). So only 30 white players can represent the domestic sides. Salaries are also quite low. South African domestic teams usually pay around 1/4th or 1/5th of the salary that the English county teams pay.

@JSRAW yea CSA is messed up and it’s due to their colour based polices, that they have never been able to succeed for long spells in any format. Also I don’t blame the player’s for choosing to play for other countries, because they’re very well aware that they’ll never be picked due to their colour, and which player would like to waste his career by sitting on the sidelines?.

[JSRAW]

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~edited out~
 But a lot of the younger South African players think that grabbing a European passport and going Kolpak is the only viable option they got.

Brexit might help in this case, some might still find loopholes tho..

It is a combination of many factors. Domestic teams are allowed only five (out of the 11) on the basis of merit. The remaining six players come from racial quota. On top of this, the number of domestic first class teams stand at just 6 in South Africa (for comparison, this is 18 in England and 37 in India). So only 30 white players can represent the domestic sides. Salaries are also quite low. South African domestic teams usually pay around 1/4th or 1/5th of the salary that the English county teams pay.

6 team in domestic cricket is way too low, similarly having 37 teams are over the top. looking at Indian domestic teams, if they managed to get their act together then they could even build at least 3 world class teams but not sure if its going to happen in our lifetime.

[Sithara007]

6 team in domestic cricket is way too low, similarly having 37 teams are over the top. looking at Indian domestic teams, if they managed to get their act together then they could even build at least 3 world class teams but not sure if its going to happen in our lifetime.

How many is ideal, in your opinion?

I have followed the Sheffield Shield competition in Australia for the past many years. I would say without a doubt that it is the best domestic first-class competition in the world right now. I would rate it above the county championship of England and Ranji Trophy of India. But in Sheffield Shield, they have only 6 teams.

Even in the West Indies, they have only six first-class teams. Until the 1990s, the Busta Cup was regarded as one of the best first class competitions in the world. Similarly, the Plunket Shield competition of New Zealand also features only 6 teams.

India was having around 27 teams, before a supreme court judgement forced the BCCI to add 10 more.

As you can see, out of the six countries with a proper first-class setup, 4 are having just 6 first class teams each. Exceptions are England and India. England still maintains the quality, because each of these county sides are running for more than 100 years. The same can't be said about India.

The other six test nations (including SL, Pakistan, Bangladesh.etc) don't have a proper FC setup.

[JSRAW]

6 team in domestic cricket is way too low, similarly having 37 teams are over the top. looking at Indian domestic teams, if they managed to get their act together then they could even build at least 3 world class teams but not sure if its going to happen in our lifetime.

How many is ideal, in your opinion?

It basically depends on popularity of game and population density so every country should chose their own path according to the ground realities. Fixed team rule might work for one country but could be useless for another country.

In context of India, 25-30 teams are more than enough.. considering 99% wickets are batsmen friendly (Ranji).

Having said that if they are willing to work on competitive tracks for Ranji then i don't mind existing number of teams or may be more teams (close to 50) in domestic level because of population/popularity. So would like to see more fast pitches for Ranji otherwise India might end up with the talent who finds success only when home season comes, not ideal situation IMO.

India is big and offers different sets of climate in different parts. Let's say focus on Seam and bouncy tracks in North India as this is much colder part in comparison of rest of the India. I understand it would be tough to replicate similar pitches as England/South Africa (Seam-pace) and Australia(Bouncy) in India, as pitch gets dry after 3 days here. For this they could work more on competitive wicket, make favorable condition for fast bowler for first 3 days and let the wicket break after 3 days naturally, after 3 days let the spinners enjoy a bit. Encourage State boards who are willing to improve their domestic track record because as of now everyone still playing at dusty wickets in the Ranji level. Situation is much better in International games (Test) tho.

[Vishnu.Reang]

@ JSRAW, my main issue with Indian domestic cricket is not the number of teams. Rather than that, I am worried that the teams are not at the same level. For example, the Uttar Pradesh cricket team represents 200 million plus people and then we have the Puducherry and Chandigarh teams which represent just 1 million each. Do you think that it is logical to have UP and Chandigarh in the same competition? Rather than having separate teams for Chandigarh, Mizoram.etc, why can't the BCCI form a combined team for all these smaller states? From what I have seen, Puducherry and Chandigarh hardly fields any natives in their playing XI. Most of the players come from other states, who chose to represent these states because they get the opportunity to play first class cricket.