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Tony Wadsworth |
The photo shows a Test match in progress at Trent Bridge.
In Part II, Tony Wadsworth continues replying to the critics of his August 2025 article posted on
this site, doing so in the context of what he views as a resurgence of Test cricket while also being
sceptical of its present day “doomsters”.
He wishes to thank Peter Kettle for acting as a sounding board for this part of the project and
providing a number of useful suggestions.
A. “Don’t fix something that ain’t broke.”
This caution was issued byThala_0720 .
It is a common and often accepted piece of advice when someone attempts a reform of some kind. Although it implicitly denies, or at least greatly downplays, the fact that it can be worthwhile taking advantage of opportunities to make something that happens to be satisfactory, somewhat better – as reflected in my article’s title: Can Test Matches Get Even Better?
I agree that Test cricket is in a relatively good place these days, though it does have its “doomsters” – a matter for discussion after painting a contrasting picture of its doldrums period.
B. Test Cricket in the Doldrums: the 1970s and ’80s
Scoring rates were low in both relative and absolute terms during these two decades, and the frequency of draws was high – again, in relative and absolute terms.
Scoring Rates
For the period 1970-89, run rates per over delivered stood at 2.9 in overall terms, with individual countries ranging from around 2.7 to 3.1 per over. This followed the post-WW2 period of 1945-69 at a somewhat lower overall rate of 2.4 per over, and 2.7 for the inter-War period of 1920-39.
1970-89 Runs Scored per Over
England 2.74
Australia 3.00
India 2.90
New Zealand 2.67
West Indies 3.16
Pakistan 3.13
Sri Lanka 2.76
It is revealing to look behind these averages to see the spread, especially the lower portions of the spectrum. Examining the five year period 1975-79 – when England played 11 series (featuring India, Pakistan, Australia, New Zealand and West Indies) plus a Centenary Test against Australia – I find that, of the total of 155 team innings played in these series (ignoring uncompleted team innings of less than 60 runs):
- Exactly two-thirds of the innings proceeded at under 3.0 per runs over, while two-fifths of them were played at no higher than 2.5 runs per over.
- The number of team innings played at 3.5 runs per over and above was only 23 – ie 15%, and at 4.0 runs and above per over it was just 7 team innings – ie 4.5%.
The tolerance of spectators was generally higher in those times, although borne partly out of familiarity with such scoring rates, and it would also have resulted in some suppression of potential demand for ground entry.
Inconclusive Test matches (draws) stood at 45% for the 1970s and ’80s combined (with 7 participants before Sri Lanka entered in season 1981/82). The proportion of draws steadily reduced thereafter for the Big Eight participants (South Africa re-entering in season 1991/92 following a 22 year absence, due to international politics); and, for the past six years, draws have been relatively low – standing at 1 in 7.5 matches (derived from ESPN match results data):
Proportion of Test Draws
1970s/80s 44.7%
1990s 35.1%
2000s 28.7%
2010s 20.6%
2020-25 13.2%
However, the twin-decade of doldrums (1970s/80s) did have some wonderful things going for it. A smattering is given here:
- John Augustine Snow from Sussex made himself into a menacing fast medium bowler with a vicious bouncer. “He could look lackadaisical on the field and even in his run up, and then suddenly he would let fly balls rearing at the throat {and sometimes the head} of unsuspecting batsmen.”
He was instrumental in England’s 2-0 victory in the six match Test series of 1970-71 Down Under, so regaining the Ashes – in which he captured 31 wickets at 22.8 runs apiece, amid much controversy.
Having struck Graham McKenzie in the face by a short delivery during the 4th Test, Snow felled tail-ender, Terry Jenner in the final match in Sydney. Jenner later resuming his innings, though only after Snow had been grabbed by a spectator when fielding at the boundary’s edge. Some newspapers calling it “an assault” – which precipitated a walk-off by the England team, led by Ray Illingworth.
Before finishing his Test career in July 1976, at age 34, the reflective John Snow published two compilations of his poetry about his life in cricket, including his travels: Contrasts (published in 1971) & Moments and Thoughts (1973).
- His immediate successor being JK (John Kenneth) Lever of Essex, playing 21 Tests from December 1976 to June 1986, whose left arm fast medium seamers and in-swing (to right-handers) obtained a lot of success against India. He started with the magical figures of 7 for 46 (including all of the top six bats) followed by 3 for 24 on his debut at Delhi, this coming in a five match Test series in which he claimed 26 wickets at just 14.6 runs piece. Lever finished his career by taking 13 of India’s wickets in his final three matches: two (away) in December 1981, followed by an isolated one (at home) in June 1986 when he took 6 for 166 in the match.
In order of frequency of dismissals, JK’s illustrious Indian victims were:
Gundappa Viswanath – 6 times; Sunil Gavaskar – 4 times (twice when on single figures); Dilip Vengsarkar – 4 times; Aunshuman Gaekwad – 3 times; Kapil Dev – 3 times; Ravi Shastri – twice; Mohinder Amarnath and Mohammad Azharuddin, once each.
- A notable bowler of similar pace to JK Lever, and another left-armer, who was good enough to have earned an England cap was Doug Yeabsley (born January 1942), having a long career with the Minor County of Devon – 31 seasons in all during 1959 (at age 17) through to 1989.
Ian Botham considered Yeabsley to be the second best left arm pace bowler in England after JK Lever during the 1970s. He was approached by Somerset – and some other counties – to turn professional, but they were foiled by his desire to continue teaching, as well as by the calls of rugby union.
Yeabsley excelled for the Minor Counties combined team against a number of the touring Test countries:
1974 vs the Pakistanis – 2/60 and 3/45 (all among the top 5 batsmen in the order).
1976 vs the West Indians – 3/69 (Lawrence Rowe, Deryck Murray and Bernard Julien) and 1/32 (claiming Viv Richards).
1977 vs the Australians – 2/62 (David Hookes for 1 run and Kerry O’Keeffe for 6 runs) and 2/35 (Gary Cosier for 13 and Kim Hughes for 2).
This resulting in a memorable victory for the Minor Counties team by 6 wickets, following a declaration by each side.
1979 vs the Indians – 1/67 and 2/53 (all among the top 4 in the order).
1980 vs the West Indians – 2/44 (claiming both openers: Faoud Bacchus for 7 and Desmond Haynes for 15).
- Turning to England batsmen of this period: Geoff Boycott’s dependability, and occasionally free-flowing, reign was a fixture at the top of the order. Aside from his three year self-imposed exile between June 1974 and July 1977, his 108 Test matches were only occasionally interrupted during his career, spanning the mid-1960s through to the early-1980s, retiring at age 41. Adding his suggested 5 runs per innings for opening batsmen would give him a Test career average of 52.7, to go with his 7 wickets from 158 overs of medium pace deliveries and with decent economy (2.4 runs per over).
- Boycott was partly overlapped by David Gower with his irrepressible flair at the crease during his 117 Test matches from 1978-92. Plus his love of pranks off the field, including a joy flight in a Tiger Moth biplane – buzzing play at 150 feet during the England XI vs Queensland match at Carrara Oval on the Gold Coast in mid-January 1991. Gower killing time after his brief innings of 13 runs, having exited from the middle with the score at 303 for 5 – on the way to a first innings team total of 430, in reply to Qld’s 286, and a comfortable win (by 10 wickets) without requiring the scheduled fourth day. Nest morning, being hauled up before the unamused captain Gooch and tour manager Mickey Stewart for this “harmless bit of fun” (in Gower’s words) and the imposition of a one thousand pound fine.
“Always playing beautifully, until the moment he made a mistake.” Which extended to making 18 centuries for England, including the patience to reach an undefeated 200 runs against India at Edgbaston in July 1979.
- Ian Terence Botham rivetted the country’s attention with his staggering triumphant Ashes series deeds – with ball as well as bat – in the summer of 1981. At Headingley for an England win by a mere 18 runs, and at Old Trafford for a win by 103 runs. And with an intervening spell of 5 wickets for 11 runs from his 14 overs in Australia’s second innings at Edgbaston, eventuating in an England win by the slim margin of 29 runs.
Until his serious back injury, sustained when playing matches in the mid-1980s, Ian Botham ranked with Imran Khan as a truly great all-rounder. It was the dreaded fast, and fast medium, bowler’s stress fracture of the back, causing a reduction in his pace and sharpness of out-swing; and with it, a lasting departure from his previously stellar bowling form. It reduced his effectiveness with the bat as well. The injury requiring spinal surgery and the fusion of vertebrae, causing Botham to miss playing Test matches from early-August 1987 through to early-July 1989.
- Mike Brearley’s astute, and highly motivating, captaincy was on display during 1977-81: achieving 18 wins, along with 4 losses and 9 draws. And not long after, giving us his lauded treatise, The Art of Captaincy (initially published in 1985).
- “Deadly” Derek Underwood worked his magic, with virtually unplayable left arm spin on rain-affected drying pitches. From 1966 through to 1982, he claimed 2.0 victims per innings at 25.8 runs apiece, with a miserly economy rate of just 2.1 runs conceded per over.
- And there was Phillipe Henri Edmonds, another SLA bowler, with his well flighted deliveries and “an aristocratic manner” – the one that Mike Brearley couldn’t get on with either at Middlesex or when captaining England. Yet Edmonds hit it off with Geoff Boycott, who’d cry “Another fower!” on striking one of his deliveries through the imagined covers when practising in the nets. Edmonds played 84 Tests from 1975-87, for 1.5 wickets per innings – capturing 6 or 7 wickets in a match five times.
- The West Indies’ batting shone brightly: the Greenidge/Haynes opening partnerships, the under-rated sparkling Rohan Kanhai – his final 29 Test innings, when age 35 to 38, coming at an average of 45.0, including scores of 158 (undefeated), 105 and 157, respectively against India, Australia and against England at Lord’s. In addition, the destructive shot-making of the often swaggering Viv Richards. In parallel were Messrs Holding, Marshall and Roberts…if not one, then another of them would shoot out an opposition batsman.
- The glue supplied by Clive Lloyd’s captaincy of the West Indies united the islanders. An imposing 6 foot 5 ins tall with broad shoulders, he led the West Indies from November 1974 through to the start of January 1985. Averaging in the high-forties for his 175 Test innings, with his heavy bat in the middle order from late-1966 to the end of 1984 when retiring at age forty.
- Also on display was the undisputed multi-talented maestro, Garry Sobers who played his final 28 Test innings in the first half of the 1970s, compiling five centuries: 108, 178, 132, 142 and then 150 at Lord’s in August 1973 – three of these innings being undefeated. He signed off in early-April 1974, at age 37, doing so against England at Queen’s Park Oval in Trinidad’s capital, Port of Spain.
- The complementary career of the right-arm off-spinner, Lance Gibbs – who possessed unusually long fingers – came to a close at age 41 in February 1976 (two years after Sobers’ retirement). Having begun in early-1958 (four years after Sobers’ debut). Gibbs’ career producing 2.1 wickets per innings: 309 scalps in all at 29.1 runs apiece.
- Australia gave cricket followers the menacing high pace duo of Lillee and Thomson as well as the sublime batting of Greg Chappell. Their Prime Minister, Bob Hawke watched the play in the Lord’s Test of June 1989. On the Saturday, sitting on the Australian dressing room balcony next to captain Allan Border, the match eventuating in a six wicket win for the visitors in a rampant series for Australia. Bob Hawke also did somecommentary on ABC radio during the December 1988 Test in Perth, and with good timing – Merv Hughes took a hat-trick against the West Indies, clinching it with his first delivery of their second innings.
- India gave spectators the gritty defiance and courage of Mohinder Amarnath in the upper middle order: Tests from December 1969 to January 1988, playing 113 innings at 42.5. And the technical brilliance of the great opener Sunil Gavaskar (from March 1971 to March 1987) – possessing all the shots and a “virtually unbreachable defence” in playing his 214 Test innings at 51.1.
- Sri Lanka produced Aravinda de Silva, beginning his 18 year Test career in August 1984. “Strong at cutting and hooking, an unrepentant attacker,” this diminutive batsman would average in the mid-forties for his 159 Test innings.
- And from Pakistan came the supreme all-rounder for this entire period, Imran Khan: a lion at Oxford University, for Sussex and as captain of Pakistan. “Suave, erudite and monstrously talented.” His two decades of Test cricket and 88 matches extended from June 1971 through to January 1992. He would average 37.7 with the bat and claimed 362 scalps with the ball at 22.8 runs apiece. Imran’s batting and bowling averages being very similar to those of the similarly gifted Keith Miller during his Test playing days: 55 matches during the decade from March 1946 to October 1956.
- A sizeable uplift to the remuneration of international players occurred as an outcome of Kerry Packer’s bold and highly innovative venture, World Series Cricket with its matches staged from 1977-79.
- Umpiring benefitted from the inimitable Harold Dennis (“Dickie”) Bird. Universally liked by players, he was able to calm down Merv Hughes during a fiery bowling spell with unwarranted verbals directed at the batsmen. Hughes retorting with “Dickie Bird, you’re a legend!”
Dickie once arrived at The Oval ground as early as 6 am, so nervous was he about being late; and on another occasion was five-hours early to meet the Queen.
- There was also the very popular BBC radio commentator, Brian Johnston – an old Etonian and full of lasting schoolboy humour. Among his memorable lines:
“And welcome to The Oval where the bowler is Holding the batsman’s Willey.” Famously said (on 13 August 1976) during play between England and the West Indies.
“Welcome to Leicester, where Ray Illingworth has just relieved himself at the Pavilion End.”
- Richie Benaud did live commentary on television during his retirement from playing. “Mellow and authoritative,” he was also intermittently taciturn when nothing was called for: a valuable tip for many others! Much attention was paid by him as to which shade of beige or cream jacket he would wear on air – leading many groups of spectators to turn up to Test match grounds wearing imitations.
- And there was the unmistakable Hampshire burr of commentator John Arlott – a bottle of Beaujolais Villages invariably brought along in his brief case. Some cricket enthusiasts, at home, actually preferring it when play was held up by rain, so as to hear Arlott ad lib. On one occasion, for some twenty minutes describing, in captivating fashion, eight wheeled covers being put on and taken off by a tractor:
“It’s really a sort of cover removal spectacular…umpire Dickie Bird there looking very worried, stroking his chin.”
David Rayvern Allen, Arlott: The Authorised biography, 1994
(Chapter 23, The Voice of Cricket).
- Finally, a sight to gladden the hearts of English supporters: the sight of Colin Cowdrey stepping out, when turning 42 years of age, to face Jeff Thomson (JT) and Dennis Lillee (DKL) Down Under. He had responded – without hesitation – to a request by captain Mike Denness to fill in after the 1st Test in that 1974-75 series, when the side was in an injury crisis. This came after a three and a half year break for Cowdrey, following his “retirement.”
At Perth, on the quick, bouncy WACA pitch, Cowdrey made an obdurate 22 runs coming in at number three – facing 101 deliveries – in a team total of 208. And in the second dig, opening with David Lloyd, making 41 from 96 deliveries – putting on 62 before the first wicket fell. At one stage, saying to Lloyd (who shortly afterwards retired hurt): “This is jolly fun!”
Cowdrey, at number three, went on to make first innings scores in this series of 35 in a total of 242; 22 of 292; 26 of 172; and, finally, was out for 7 runs in a big team total – ironically England’s only win to Australia’s four (with one drawn match).
For JT, this was his first Test series following an unsuccessful debut two years earlier when age 22 – finishing with overall figures for his five matches of 33 wickets at 17.9 runs apiece (missing the final match due to incurring an injury playing tennis on the “rest day”). While his partner, DKL captured 25 wickets at 23.8 apiece in a full series, following a lay-off of 21 months recuperating from a serious injury (stress fractures of his lower back). In effect, the beginning of their highly destructive partnership.
These players, commentators and events were, then, some of the gems during an otherwise somewhat dull period of Test cricket.
C. The New Millennium: A Much Improved State of Test Cricket
On the two major indices – scoring rates and the frequency of positive match outcomes – the new millennium ushered in generally far better enjoyment for spectators. Though they had to endure a sluggish rate of overs delivered in a typical day’s play, while time unnecessarily wasted continued to be highly irritating.
Scoring rates rose appreciably following the 1970-99 period. It is only subsequently that run rates of the principal eight Test countries have risen beyond the high-2s per over (aside from WI, reaching 3.1 runs per over for the 1990s). These run rate entered the low-3s for the 2000-19 period, followed by a recent further upturn for 2020-25 (derived from HowStat data).
Test Match Run Rates (per over)
|
1970-89
|
1990s
|
2000s
|
2010s
|
2000-25
|
|
|
England
|
2.77
|
3.22
|
3.23
|
3.89
|
|
|
Australia
|
2.95
|
3.66
|
3.38
|
3.54
|
|
|
India
|
2.96
|
3.27
|
3.38
|
3.37
|
|
|
South Africa
|
2.77
|
3.12
|
3.21
|
3.28
|
|
|
New Zealand
|
2.70
|
3.07
|
3.28
|
3.45
|
|
|
West Indies
|
3.12
|
3.07
|
3.04
|
2.92
|
|
|
Pakistan
|
2.99
|
3.22
|
3.07
|
3.16
|
|
|
Sri Lanka
|
2.86
|
3.31
|
3.16
|
3.33
|
|
|
Average
|
2.91
|
2.89
|
3.24
|
3.22
|
3.37
|
The frequency of draws has reduced in consequence of the faster scoring, coming down in overall terms to below 30% for the 2000s and recently – the last 6 years – falling to half that frequency (the stats being detailed earlier). As shown in the above table, the pattern across the different countries is pretty consistent. For England’s home matches, I’ve looked into the possibility of a long-term influence of the changing incidence of annual rainfall for the country as a whole. There has been a small overall rise, of 4.2%, between the thirty year periods of 1961/90 to 1991/2020 – down a little for May and September and up a little for June to August. Nothing of real significance there.
Secondary issues of slow over rates and various aspects of wasted time remain to be tackled, by regulatory action if necessary. Sluggish over rates have long been a concern, from the 1960s/70s through to the turn of the century and beyond, with five of the leading Test countries featuring fast bowlers with lengthy run-ups in recent times. And plenty of fast-medium merchants with run-ups of lengths not to be sneezed at – unaccompanied by much regular spin.
The shining exceptions in the spin department being the famed, balanced, Indian quartet spanning 1962 to 1979, and later Anil Kumble, Lance Gibbs, Abdul Qadir, Shane Warne, and Derek Underwood – plus Phil Tufnell’s SLA deliveries on his best days of flighting them during his 1990-2001 Test career. There has been a dearth of top-class spinners in the new Millennium – India apart. Plus a rarely-relived diet of fast-medium bowlers, typified by the duo of Stuart Broad and Jimmy Anderson, and their trio of successors for England. This has meant continuing gripes about how few overs are typically delivered in a day’s Test play. The presence of genuinely fast men – Cummins, Archer, S. and A. Joseph, Shar Afridi and Nazeem Shar, Kumara, Rabada, plus Bumrah and Siraj – are barely enough in number to bring a lot of variety to the scene.
When expressed as a grand average, there’s been a substantial reduction in the number of overs sent down per hour in Tests since the 1960s – a drop of nearly one-quarter:
Overs Delivered per Hour
1945-49: above 20
1960s: 17.7
1980s: 14.4
2000s: 14.1
2020-23: 13.6
Stats sourced from an article by Andy Bull: Grinding to a Halt: A History of Over Rates in Cricket, contained in Wisden CA’s 2024 edition.
Turning to the issue of wasted time during play in Tests: Mike Atherton recently chaired a well-informed and interesting discussion, held in the Coronation Garden at Lord’s during the contest with India last summer, centred on unnecessarily slow play and slow proceedings. Shown on YouTube under the banner, “The delays have been diabolical…” running for 22 minutes, it features contributions from Athers, Kumar Sangakkara, Stuart Broad and Nasser Hussain.
The discussion mainly covered changes of the ball and what the laws say about who should initiate scrutiny of the one in play and under what circumstances; the length of the reviews under the Decision Review System (DRS), the numerous drinks breaks, and “umpires not in authority.”
A number of seemingly sensible suggestions were put forward and debated, such as:
– Cut down on a “multitude” of drinks breaks – eg one was held only ten minutes before the tea interval during that on-going match against India.
– Leave it entirely to the umpires to decide when, and whether, to check a ball’s shape (using the gauge), and have a far shorter cut-off on decisions about whether to review an umpire’s decision. Also, tell the person carrying out the alternative replacements of a ball and the Umpires to get a move on, instead of sauntering to meet each other as though they were either carrying a serious leg injury or are tipsy. The video clip shown was certainly comical!
– Reduce the time allowed for captains to call for the DRS reviews to around 5 seconds, as potential howlers can be identified in that space of time, rather than the currently allowed 15 seconds.
A related suggestion that I’ve thought of: leave DRS reviews to the Third Umpire, which would ensure a reversion to its intended use – scrutinising really poor looking on-field umpire calls.
Also: why not have stiffer WTC point penalties for slow over rates, after allowance for hold-ups which aren’t due to the fielding side?
As far as I’m aware, there has been no follow-up by Atherton and company to try to persuade, or pressure, the ICC to actually act. Hence, wasted time remains a problem to be tackled – one that I might pursue in another article.
Spectator numbers at the grounds during Test matches present a mixed story. Numbers have generally been thriving in England, India and Australia in recent times, accompanied by with buoyant television viewings, with broadcasting revenue forming a predominant part of administrators’ revenues.
- At ground spectator numbers for the 2025/26 Ashes series were around 50,000 on both days at Perth; close to capacity on all except the final day at Brisbane, Adelaide and Sydney; and close to capacity on both days at Melbourne. In total, nearly 860,000 spectators were on site.
Yet, quite thinly populated stadiums have been common in recent times in a number of countries. Most notably: “modest and diminishing” crowds in the West Indies, where a decline in team performance has had a marked impact. South Africa has suffered from the rise of T20 matches, often with as low as around 1,000 a day at major venues for Tests. New Zealand is also a victim of the popularity of the T20 format, though having some success with day-night matches, and mitigating the visual and atmospheric effects by often using Mount Maunganui and occasionally Dunedin as venues. And there’s the special case of the UAE when used as a neutral venue for Pakistan’s matches, its venues being sparsely populated by spectators.
This matter of attendance numbers relates to the threat posed to Test cricket, to which I now turn.
D. Many Commentators Don’t Agree that Test Cricket Isn’t in Strife (or isn’t “broken”)
A substantial, and growing, number of well-informed, respected commentators are not at one with those who consider that Test cricket is not in strife already and won’t be in the fairly imminent future. There are, then, plenty of what I label “Test doomsters” around, the list growing by the month. A number of them were cited in my mid-August 2025 piece on this website, including (among others) those noted below:
James Coyne, Melinda Farrell and David Frith of The Cricketer magazine; Jon Hotten of The Nightwatchman journal; former England player and commentator, Isa Guha; Vishnu Padmanabhan of The Economist magazine; Greg Baum of Melbourne’s The Age newspaper; Sean Gregory of Time Magazine; Vaneisa Baksh in the West Indies. In India, the former Test luminary turned eminent commentator, Ravi Shastri; in South Africa, the journalist and commentator Natalie Germanos; and in South America, Hernán Pereyra, President of Argentine Cricket Association.
They all perceive, to varying degrees, an existential threat. Their belief that Test cricket is seriously threatened reflects, fundamentally, a worry over the recent and prospective further shrinking of the pool of talent available to Test team selectors in the participating countries, and how market forces are likely to play-out under alternative regulatory scenarios. This in turn, of course, reflects the in-roads that are being made by the lure of T20 Franchise Leagues around the world, now spanning virtually the whole calendar year and offering highly lucrative contracts for short stints of work.
The “doomsters” are also acutely aware that Test match series have shrunk in length: 3-match series morphing into 2-match ones, and with 4 and 5-match series becoming increasingly uncommon. Steve Waugh became virtually apoplectic at South Africa sending what was, in effect, a Second Eleven side to play the two-match series in New Zealand in February 2024, one that included seven uncapped players with the captain among them. Thereby putting domestic SA’s T20 cricket above its Test cricket. Though SA did make a contest of the second of those matches, beaten only by a second innings century from Kane Williamson.
More such action can perhaps be expected. Worse has happened this year in the women’s game, with the West Indies cancelling a home Test against Australia, scheduled for the March-April period – stating it was prioritising preparation for the women’s T20 World Cup, to be held in England during June to early-July.
Some of the Test “doomsters” play Devil’s Advocate – eg Mike Brearley’s piece of March 2024 in The Cricketer magazine, headed: Test cricket on Titanic route to disaster? Some others play the role of an Agent Provocateur, while many others have plain apprehension or foreboding.
From what I’ve seen written by these “many others”, it is mostly rather superficial comment. Indeed, it is often akin to the utterances of current day slaves of verbal fashion, as illustrated by this snatch of conversation in a recent screenplay:
Naomi: When asking a young bloke next to me in a café, have you got the time on you?
He responded with: “Time is slipping by. To be honest, it’s 1-45.”
Pierre: It’s getting to the stage, Naomi, when we’ll have to assume a person is lying otherwise.
Naomi: If he hadn’t uttered the to be honest mantra, he probably would have been lying. In which case, he might have said: It’s 2-20 or 3-35. There are so many times that aren’t 1-45…a myriad of them.
Pierre: These unthinking slaves of verbal fashion…why don’t they let the words speak for themselves?
Naomi: Slaves of verbal fashion…c’est le mot juste!
Putting in these hackneyed adjectives and modifiers…their utterances become meaningless.
E. A Bedrock of Spectator Support & Some Promising Solutions Being Aired
The vital ingredient to keeping Test cricket alive is a bedrock of keen spectator support, both at the grounds – chiefly for atmosphere and a morale boost to the players – and of course via television. Without a healthy diet of TV watchers, the value of broadcasting rights would at some stage fall, and with it a reduction in the predominant source of the administrators’ revenue.
The encouraging thing is that Test cricket is strongly differentiated in its appeal from ODIs and other white ball formats of the game, a point that Russell Houldin has emphasised in a piece titled Lament for a Pastime – contained in the May 2025 issue of The Cricket Statistician journal (pages 46-47).
Houldin points to its aesthetic appeal and the absorbing ebbs and flows of the contests. This is analogous to those who embark on wine appreciation courses and practice assiduously what they’ve been taught afterwards! And with those who gain an appreciation of fine art or architecture.
In recently reviewing a book on this website titled Miracle at Eden, by Ayon Sengupta (1925), Martin Chandler has written in a similar vein to Russell Houldin:
“Test cricket is the finest form of the game, where skill continues to count for more than brute force, where tactics and the balance of power in the game ebb and flow across days, where the greatest sporting dramas unfold and events are seared on memories for a lifetime.”
To aesthetics, I would add its intellectual appeal, which has attracted a lengthy stint from Mike Brearley as captain of Middlesex (1971-82) and led to his shorter, though illustrious, one leading England from 1977-81 (Brearley born in April 1942). During England’s post-WW2 period, this characteristic has also attracted the likes of Mike Atherton (born in March 1968, another Cambridge graduate) and Ed Smith (born in July 1977, getting a double first in history, also at Cambridge). To which Ted Dexter (born in May 1935) can confidently be added (yet another who went to Cambridge).
This quartet being accommodated at the Colleges of St John’s, Downing, Peterhouse and Jesus. While Colin Cowdrey (born December 1932) can be considered as a fringe candidate: spoiling this theme as he went, instead, to Oxford – Brasenose College.
So Test cricket, as the highest expression of the game and with its own distinctive appeal, has attracted a hard core – a bedrock – of committed fans. Indeed, this body of keen supporters can be expected to grow with continuing advances in schooling and further education (and to grow faster than the size of countries’ resident populations).
Initiatives being taken, and proposed, to protect Test cricket
As far as England is concerned, the ECB administrators have taken two main steps to shore-up Test cricket and strengthen its team’s capability. One of these has been to respond to the lure of the overseas T20 Leagues by raising payments for those on central contracts, which were introduced back in year 2000. This has followed in the footsteps of various administrative bodies in the light of Kerry Packer staging World Series Cricket matches from December 1977 through to April 1979, capitalising on the players’ dissatisfaction with their national administrators. Remuneration levels for international players were raised across the board.
The ECB’s uplift has certainly been warranted, though a gulf in earnings rates remains between playing for England and having short stints in the IPL or other overseas T20 Leagues.
A basic issue is whether the ECB is being wise to give protection to the domestic first-class competitions from T20 Leagues (other than the deal made with India over exempting English player participation in the IPL) rather than, instead, to let market forces have full rein.
The ECB has actually aggravated the situation by, in effect, forcing players to choose between a lucrative dip into the T20 Leagues and being eligible to play for their country – not permitting play in these overseas leagues if that would overlap, even in very small part, with the English county season, which now stretches from early-April to late-September.
Perhaps all of this wouldn’t have the dire consequences that many predict, as potential England players are free to sacrifice that possible opportunity for jumping the fence and cutting ties, whilst a good number are set against that course of action and much prefer to play for their country.
Also, some England players have been able to mix and match to good effect, remuneration wise. For instance, Joe Root – who is by no means an expert exponent of T20 batting – has been able to substantially supplement his income from Test play and endorsements during 2023 by participating in a combination of the domestic Hundred competition (playing for the Trent Rockets), having a stint in the IPL (for the Rajasthan Royals), whilst also turning out for the Dubai Capitals team. In January 2025, Root played some matches for the Paarl Royals in the SA20 League. All this without offending the ECB.
So perhaps a liberalisation of the ECB’s general ban within the English county season could be tolerated without significantly eating into the present Test squad.
Turning to the ICC, it is understood the this body is currently in the process of developing a new dedicated Test match fund, expected to be in the region of US $15mill to $20 million. This being intended to support and incentivise Test cricket – particularly the nations outside the “Big Three” of England, Australia and India. The initiative is driven by CA (Cricket Australia) and backed by the BCCI and the ECB.
The fund is focussed on increasing player match fees, and covering touring costs, to combat the rise of T20 leagues by:
– providing a guaranteed minimum match fee for players, reported to be around US $10,000 to $15,000 per Test – helping to reduce, somewhat, the disparity between Test match earnings and that for Franchise League contracts; and
– subsidising the high costs of touring for boards of nations with relatively small financial resources.
This pot could, perhaps, be enlarged over time to give support to Test cricketers generally.
Even if some of the solutions suggested and aired by individuals are tentative and not fully-fledged, a number of them are still worth considering.
One interesting proposal is this one from Huw Turbervill, the current editor of The Cricketer magazine:
- Give Test matches their own, exclusive, part of the annual calendar. Which means segregating parts of the calendar for T20 Leagues and similar short forms of the game from a space to be allocated and preserved for Test matches. See his article, Opening a Window for Test Cricket in The Nightwatchman journal, Autumn 2025 (pages 59-61).
It remains to be looked into who would be the negotiating parties and what are the likely prospects for success.
Something that would better inform suggested solutions to the threat Test cricket faces is the creation of a predictive model of the relevant labour markets, which would fall to an economist with a strong grasp of this subject. That’s not me, I hasten to add. Though I venture to say that such a model should pay close attention to differentiating player skill sets and to their differing objectives for their cricket careers; and that it should incorporate trade-offs between income and leisure and on/off field enjoyment of life.
It’s an open question whether quantitative models of this kind (albeit a simplification of the real world) could be specified in a reliable enough operational form. In other words, having the capability of predicting outcomes, with a fair degree of reliability, over a period of around 3-5 years, and hopefully over a somewhat longer time-frame.
Its creation would follow the conventional four main general steps of model development:
- Specifying the dependent and independent variables.
- Formulating the nature of the causal relationships.
- Calibration: fitting the model with data to replicate the recent/present market situation.
- Prediction: forecasting values for each of the variables and applying these values to the quantified relationships.
Not rocket science…in principle!
The big question is whether the specified causal relationships could actually be quantified, given the availability of data and the subtleties of some of the causal connections. Let’s wait and see what might be forthcoming. There’s been plenty of sophisticated modelling work done on a raft of cricketing matters so far, as exemplified by various articles in the journal of the British Royal Statistical Society.
| See, for instance, A.C. Kimber and A.R. Hansford: A Statistical Analysis of Batting in Cricket. Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, 1993 (pages 443-55).
And, elsewhere, the often referred to article by H.H. Lemmer: General Measures of Batting Performance in a Short Series of Cricket Matches. South African Statistical Journal, Issue No. 1, 2008 (pages 65-87). |
My Own Proposal as A Modest Contribution
….to the helping hand that Test cricket needs at present.
In the overall scheme of things, my proposal – being to limit the first innings of both teams in Tests to 100, or 110, overs – has been intended to help shore-up spectator numbers. Some of whom are drifting to T20 internationals (and to T20 domestic matches) and giving Test matches a miss, while some others are attending or watching Test match play on TV less frequently. It tackles a problem associated with Day 3 and 4 spectator numbers and those sometimes of Day 5 (when play extends that far, not often these days). The problem being one of contests having a premature foregone conclusion (as also noted in my Part I) – producing boredom for spectators and a reducing number of them as a match unfolds.
Turning now to one other of my critics, Coronis. After saying mine is an interesting article, this person continued with:
“Not sure that this is the solution – it’s essentially the beginnings of reducing Tests to limited overs and thus the end of Test cricket altogether.”
In response: I’m certainly not suggesting there should be any restriction on the number of overs allowed for the teams’ second innings. And I don’t see why, if implemented, my proposal for the first innings would be likely to be extended, as feared.
A Potential Philosophical Objection
A potential philosophical objection to my proposal comes to mind. This is that it represents regulatory intervention with essentially unfettered forces of competition in Test cricket, and so can be regarded as swimming against the tide…against the spirit of the general move in society to deregulation. As reflected by government policies of Western countries to deregulate markets during the period from the last quarter of the 20th century through to present times.
Most notable has been the drive to privatise former government-owned businesses and industries and to facilitate the introduction of competition wherever feasible; with use of economic regulation only where “natural monopoly” conditions prevail. See the various papers of M.E. Beesley contained in his book, Privatization, Regulation and Deregulation. Second edition 1997 (published by Routledge).
Accordingly, a fashionable and intellectually respectable attempt at a solution to the problem I have identified is one that has recently been considered by the ICC. This is to create a two-division (or two-tier) World Test Championship, having six (or seven) countries in Division 1 and a further six (or five) in Division 2. Perhaps as follows:
Div’n 1, comprising: England, Australia, New Zealand, India, Sri Lanka,
South Africa
Div’n 2, comprising: Pakistan, West Indies, Bangladesh, Zimbabwe, Afghanistan, Ireland
With one, or even two, countries to be relegated/promoted after each WTC cycle, currently of two years duration.
Yet this would be only a limited – partial – solution, given my findings concerning the frequency of “big wins” by four of the leading Test countries. As noted in Part I, only 4 out of the 20 big wins identified (within my time frame) were matches against the minnows: Zimbabwe, Afghanistan and Ireland. Excluding these cases would reduce 20 such wins to 16, with their share of all cases identified of 100 plus overs being consumed by a team’s first innings reducing to 43% (instead of 49%). So only a fairly mild revision to my findings would be implied.
However, after debate within the ICC this proposal was scuppered in late-2025: reportedly,due to “concerns about reduced revenue and opportunities for teams outside the top division, with some arguing that a two-tier system would further marginalise smaller nations.”
More likely, in my view, is that India – whose influence tends to dominate ICC proceedings – were worried that its team might, at some stage, be in line for relegation to Division 2: following a spate of injuries, loss of form of some top players, or whatever. For that nation, and its representatives, an unthinkable disaster!
The ICC’s focus has now shifted to expanding the existing unitary arrangement, rather than moving to a two-tier scheme. An ICC working group is looking at an enlarged 12-team WTC competition – one that includes Ireland, Afghanistan and Zimbabwe. This is the expectation for the next WTC cycle, starting in mid-2027.
In closing: having considered the broad array of matters discussed in Parts I and II during the course of the past six months – working at Port Elizabeth under the physical constraint of highly restricted daily power allowances – it has been a case of Nihil sine labore (nothing without hard labour).
