With India on the verge of the No 1 Test ranking for the first time, this might be the appropriate moment to boost the longer version of cricket
With India on the verge of the No 1 Test ranking for the first time, this might be the appropriate moment to boost the longer version of cricket
It was interesting and enlightening to see the concerns fans had over my idea of reverting to three-day Tests.
Interestingly, fans didn't want to tamper with Test cricket and enlightening that there's so much concern for the future of the five-day game. Considering there still appears to be a lot of love for the longer game and India is on the verge of claiming the No 1 Test ranking for the first time, this might be the appropriate moment to propose a plan that combines those two notions.
Look upon this as cricket's global warming challenge. It may mean the next generation is paying for past excesses but if we don't act quickly there might be nothing left to save.
The No 1 ranked side would be best decided by playing a World Test Championship amongst the eight major nations. This needs to be achieved in the minimum of time, hence a series of three day Tests.
The secret is to produce a ball that will accommodate day/night Tests. If the right ball becomes available [and it appears to be closer] then you can play three, seven-hour days. If the administrators and players would agree to some compromises then an over-rate of sixteen an hour is feasible. If this were achieved the championship games would relate to about the same number of balls bowled as in four days of a modern Test.
The compromises would include full-sized sightboards with no advertising on them, no television replays to decide boundaries, a back-foot no-ball law to virtually eradicate over-stepping, ball boys beyond the ropes and strictly controlling drinks on the field.
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The pebble in the shoe is the newly instituted Decision Review System (DRS) which will further slow the game.
Maybe in the Championship matches the DRS could be refined and is only activated when the third umpire over-rules an absolute howler.
This would be a viable tournament to crown a World Test champion rather than a team claiming number one ranking on a computer. It might also prove to be a street sign for Test cricket's road ahead.
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