Well, it always pays if you change up with the times. Test cricket has stood the test of time, but how long can it remain supreme is the million dollar question.
There is a growing fear that Test cricket will die if it doesn't change ways. Needless to say One Day International and Twenty20 format of the game is eating into its space. Test cricket is no longer popular among cricket enthusiasts and players as well. More importantly, it doesn't pay also.
Unless the International Cricket Council speeds up plans to introduce a new world championship, things don't seem to be bright with the longer version of the game.
“If we wait until 2019 when the ICC plans to relaunch the Test championship then bilateral cricket around the world is going to be in real trouble,” Tony Irish, the chief executive of the Federation of International Cricketers' Associations, was quoted as saying to The Sunday Telegraph.
But ICC CEO Dave Richardson has ruled out any change before 2019 which is when the current Future Tours Programme ends.
“What we are trying to impress upon the administrators is that it is not just the commercial value and the fan interest that is dwindling, but players are starting to turn away from the game because they have an alternative market now,” Irish was quoted as saying to The Sunday Telegraph.
West Indian players Chris Gayle and Dwayne Bravo have opted to play Twenty20 tournaments rather than international cricket. The reason is obvious. More pay, less strain on the body, more attraction, more stardom and the opportunity to play in front of big crowds.
The IPL story in India and the Big Bash success in Australia is a testimony to the fact that people and players love the shortest version of the game more than Test cricket. At both places, unless it is Ashes or an India-Pakistan Test match, crowds don't want to watch Test cricket.
