Can England, inspired by Head Coach Brendon McCullum and Captain Ben Stokes, save Test Cricket? The longer form of the game has been on the decline in popularity for some time now. In this article we will look at what has pushed Test Cricket into the doldrums and what this swashbuckling England team are doing to return it to its former glory.
The excitement and exposure of the shorter forms of the game such as T20 cricket and 50 over one day matches have led to a complete shift in how the sport of cricket is perceived. The younger generation can see the colour, the music, the partying and the fun of T20 tournaments such as the IPL or the Hundred. The exciting shots, the inspired catches, the super overs, and the pure tension. TV audiences have the ability to watch regular world cups and to see the best players from all over the world, from countries not always given exposure in Test cricket. The next iteration of the T20 World Cup will have 20 teams compete, from several different continents, a young person growing up in Afghanistan, for example, can see their national team compete against the powerhouses of cricket and push them all the way. How could a young Afghani cricket enthusiast not want to emulate this in the future. Compare this to test cricket, there are only 12 full test playing sides, which are decreed by the ICC, there is no promotion or relegation, or even an ability to play qualifiers to become a test side. It should also be added that ICC world test championship, a series of tests matches in a league format to crown the best test cricket nation, does not include Ireland, Zimbabwe or Afghanistan and thus consists of only 9 teams. The exposure to these nations test side is far more limited in comparison to their short format sides.
Money makes the world go round, and it is no different in the world of Cricket. T20 matches can be over in a merely hours, contrast this to a test match which can take 5 days and still end in a draw, the appeal for TV executives is obvious. With more TV coverage, and higher viewer figures T20 can bring in sponsorships and advertising that test cricket could only dream of. The IPL, the world’s biggest T20 competition, is valued at $11 billion, there is serious money to be made. Average attendances are well over 30,000 and are only not higher due to the limited capacity of stadiums in India. On average around 400 million people will tune into the IPL over the course of the season, the last Ashes, test crickets most prestigious series, had an average viewership of around 80 million. It’s clear to see why the economics of the different formats are so different when comparing these figures. This allows the IPL to offer top players incredibly lucrative contracts for just 7 weeks of cricket. England’s Sam Curran broke the existing record with a contract of $2.26 million, if Sam played test cricket for England he would make just $900 000 not including bonuses, and a further $350 000 if he played white ball cricket on top of this. Initially England would not release centrally contracted players to play in the IPL, but the financial power proved too persuasive, there was no way England could force players to miss out on the astronomical contracts.
England are also one of the best paying test nations, at the other end of the scale is Afghanistan, a centrally contracted player for the Afghans can pick up between $20000-40000. One of their star players Rashid Khan, has just been given an IPL contract of over $1.8 million. As the IPL is only 7 weeks this gives him plenty of time to play in other franchise cricket tournaments such as the Big Bash league, the PSL and the hundred to name a few. Add to this sponsorship deals that come with the television exposure at these tournaments and you can see why a player such as Rashid specialises in one day cricket. Below are his stats for Afghanistan, and show part of the problem, here is an elite level cricketer, unarguably the best his country have ever produced, yet he has only appeared in 5 test matches, compared to 163 short format matches. Budding cricketers wanting to emulate Rashid are realistically only going to see him in the shorter format and thus will be drawn to play that too.
With well over 8 Franchise leagues just for T20 throughout the world, from the West Indies to Australia, players now have the ability to specialize in just this short format and make big money doing so. The T20 journeyman is becoming more and more prevalent in the modern game. The average salary for a red ball county cricketer playing in England is $28000 for a 5 month season, if a player skips this and plays white ball franchise cricket they can make vastly more money in a shorter period of time.
Another big factor to consider alongside the wealth, is the fun of the shorter forms of the game. With the nature of how social media works, attention spans are shorter and short clips are all the rage. T20 is perfect for this as it’s packed with explosive action such as massive sixes, or stumps being smashed out of the ground by 90 mph bowling. This action is then followed by a blaring party anthem and a load of people dancing and celebrating, to any kid growing up this is a fun way to play sport. There is also the live interaction with players on the pitch, T20 is such a more immersive game for the viewer at home. Test cricket is a more nuanced and tactical game and whilst enthralling, it struggles to capture the attention of a new generation who want excitement immediately. Factor in that people’s lives continue to become more busy and working hours longer, who has the time to settle down and watch a 5 day test or a 4 day first class county match.
The only way to compete with T20 and one day cricket is to make test cricket exciting again. This is exactly what England’s current test side are trying to do. The affectionately known ‘Bazball’ is all about aggressive fielding and fast-run scoring, quick bowling and declaring in a pursuit to win games at all costs. This has led to England being involved in recent all-time classic tests chasing down huge totals, the first English side to ever chase down 4 totals of over 250 consecutively. England’s attack at all cost’s policy is certainly a long way away from the routes of test cricket, where an opening batsmen could easily face a hundred balls and only have made 10 runs. In December 2022 England reached a total of 506-4 at the end of first day’s play in a Test match against Pakistan These runs came in 75 overs at a run rate of 6.75, an unprecedented rate record in Test cricket. It’s brash and unorthodox, it will upset the cricket purists, but most importantly its exciting and this is the only thing that will bring the fans and players back to test cricket. Can they save test cricket, only time will tell, but it is certainly an uphill struggle against the finances on offer of the behemoth that is T20.
Sportsheet 
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