Former West Indian captain feels Day-Night Test should be fun.
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Test cricket is not dying: Lloyd
Mumbai: On the sidelines of the 2011 World Cup launch ceremony in a Mumbai suburban hotel raged another burning issue — the fate of Test cricket. Actually, the ball was set rolling a few weeks back when the International Cricket Council (ICC) president David Morgan hinted that Test cricket may be reduced to four days in order to ‘protect’ and ‘enrich’ the game’s oldest format in the face of T20 onslaught.
Clive Lloyd, who established a new world order in Test cricket with his extraordinary brand of cricket and cricketers in the 70’s, feels Test cricket is very much alive and kicking. “Did you see the last six overs of the Cardiff Test, I was glued to the TV. I think Test cricket is doing fine,” Lloyd, who was in town for the launch ceremony on Tuesday, told Cricketnirvana.
When reminded of Morgan’s remark of Test cricket likely to undergo ‘significant changes’ in a year’s time, Lloyd, who is also the new chairman of the ICC cricket committee said: “We should not go for changes just for the sake of changes. Test cricket has survived over a century and I think it is still doing fine. You can look at changes. When we make decisions (about changes) it should be a well-rounded and well-thought out one.”
Talking about changes, is the four-day Test an option that the ICC should explore? Lloyd answers as quickly as he was known to play his flashing cover drives. “I don’t think it’s a good idea. The five-day format has produced such fascinating cricket over the years. Why do you want to change that?”
Yet with time, the Test cricket has changed or rather evolved and more so in the last decade. Australians, under the leadership of Steve Waugh, pushed the envelope and scored 300 or more runs in a day quite regularly. It soon caught the imagination of other Test-playing nations and they successfully emulated the Aussies. The trend decisively made Test cricket more attractive, as runs flowed and batsmen showcased their stroke-making skills.
“The onset of ODI has certainly influenced Test cricket and so has T20, as players play more shots, they are improvising a lot, which is a good thing for the game,” said Lloyd.
Any changes that he would like to see in Test cricket? And Lloyd eagerly responds, “I’d like to see Day-Night Test cricket, it should be fun as it would allow people to watch matches after work. It will bring the crowds back into the game."
But won’t that negate the early morning conditions of Test match played during the day time, which test the skills of both batsmen and bowlers. After all bowlers are known to exploit the early morning conditions and it makes for a compelling contest between bat and ball.
“I think you have a point there. The dew factor at night is also going to affect the game. May be then the game can go on only till 8.30 pm every night. If all these factors can be controlled then Day-Night Test cricket should be fun.”
The man who unleashed his battery of four fearsome fast bowlers on the cricket world and ruled it for almost a decade is in a mood for a change but nothing ‘significant’, as he said, “I certainly don’t think that Test cricket is dying and there is any reason to panic.”
Mr Morgan, are you listening?
