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Four-day Tests and new Test championship

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Post by sirfredperry Fri 13 Oct 2017, 12:10 pm

A new structure involving a Test Championship has been announced today. For good or ill (ill in my book) there is also the possibility of four-day Tests.
   I'm not only opposed to four-day Tests but am against a Test championship. It's a good idea on paper, but I think there will be a lack of interest. I can see this idea being taken up once and then abandoned. I just can't see it catching on. Anyone else have any thoughts on this?

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Post by Duty281 Fri 13 Oct 2017, 12:22 pm

A Test Championship is very difficult to work because of geography (imagine Tennis consolidating four Grand Slams into one) - England, for example, might be the best in the world on English pitches, but would they be champions in the UAE? Unlikely.

Four-day Tests are likely to be the future, due to ever-increasing scoring rates, but I don't think they should be brought in now. A great five-day test has just been completed in the UAE - that could be lost to the game.

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Post by Good Golly I'm Olly Fri 13 Oct 2017, 12:35 pm

I like the idea of the Test championship - it trumps playing pointless bilateral series. Over a two year cycle you should be able to define who the best in the world is. 6 series, 3 home, 3 away - seems about as fair as you can get.

Not a huge fan of the 4 day test idea - worth giving it a go, but until they address the actual issue (over rates), it won't matter. As I've said before, fine the umpires as well as the teams for slow over rates...you'll soon see the overs bowled in the day.
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Post by compelling and rich Fri 13 Oct 2017, 4:20 pm

think four day tests can work in english conditions where there is help for the bowler. but really cant see how it will work in flat conditions abroad. the number of draws will be ridiculous

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Post by guildfordbat Sat 14 Oct 2017, 2:01 pm

sirfredperry wrote:A new structure involving a Test Championship has been announced today. For good or ill (ill in my book) there is also the possibility of four-day Tests.
   I'm not only opposed to four-day Tests but am against a Test championship. It's a good idea on paper, but I think there will be a lack of interest. I can see this idea being taken up once and then abandoned. I just can't see it catching on. Anyone else have any thoughts on this?

This may (partly) be a generational thing but not my cup of tea either.

I particularly dislike the concept of four-day Tests. For me, Tests should often very much be about building an innings over time and using that to apply pressure. Reducing the length of the match by a day inevitably reduces the time available to do that and is more likely to see an increase in ''limited overs'' type batting. I am not rubbishing that style of batting , the skills that go with it and the entertainment it brings. Sometimes when runs are needed quickly, that may be needed in a Test today. That is absolutely fine but I don't believe it needs to be encouraged to become the norm. Test match batting usually needs a different skillset and mindset. It's the difference I am keen to maintain.

Other related factors:
- Test match wickets will probably become easier to take if ''limited overs'' type batting becomes more the norm. As far as possible, I want Test match wickets to be earned.
- Draws are likely to become more frequent. A draw can be tense and, in its own way, entertaining if a team under the cosh is trying to bat out the fifth day. However, I suspect too many four-day Tests will just end as damp squibs and, has been commented, especially in Asia.
- I take Compelling's point about English conditions but the English weather could also see (most of) day one rained off. In that scenario, the chances of a positive result are most likely already gone.
- County Championship matches make do with four days. However, there is sometimes contrivance in those (which I don't like much and don't want to see in Tests) to get a positive result. Furthermore, a minimum of 96 overs are required each day as opposed to 90 in Tests which aren't always met anyway. I also want Tests to be a bit different from CC matches and, as the name implies, even more of a challenge.

I'm more inclined to reserve judgement on the Test Championship until I see the detail on how it is proposed to work. However, I've always been happy to let history judge any particular Test side and its relative merits against others. One thing I fear is that there could be circumstances in which a leading team may set out to merely draw a Test series against a particular weaker side so as to win the Test Championship, that being perceived as the bigger and more important prize.

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Post by sirfredperry Fri 20 Oct 2017, 5:46 pm

Brilliant this from Matthew Engel:


 https://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2017/oct/20/cricket-is-rotting-destroyed-icc-ecb-t20-test-matches

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Post by Good Golly I'm Olly Sat 21 Oct 2017, 11:04 am

Absolute tosh article that

It’s not 1963 anymore Matthew
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Post by guildfordbat Sat 21 Oct 2017, 12:28 pm

Sir Fred - having given thought to this matter and provided comments as requested, it's disappointing not to hear back from you.

As for Engel's article, some of his issues are valid and reasonable but it was mostly so OTT (even for me!) that they were lost in what seemed more like a parody. [Couldn't access the link but googled it.]

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