Test cricket the ‘ultimate’ but for how long, asks Shane Watson
View(s):Shane Watson, the retired Test star and an executive with the Australian players’ association, says the sport’s traditional long-form format remains the “ultimate” competition but believes its importance could eventually be usurped by the bite-sized format.
While Watson maintains he had no regrets over his Test career, he was surprised that in nine Tests in India he never played before a sell-out crowd, highlighting the shifting focus of supporters in what is unofficially the home of cricket.
That, in part, can be attributed to some of the remote venues the Australians have played at, but more to the already strong interest in one-day internationals among the locals and the growing prevalence of the Twenty20 format through the Indian Premier League.
Having retired from Test cricket after the Ashes defeat, Watson, still firmly in the frame for the two short-form versions, said Test cricket had a fight on its hands to retain its status.
“I never played in front of a full crowd [in India]. The most I played in front of was a three-quarter full crowd, whereas Twenty20s and one-dayers, whether domestic or international, are full,” he said.
“That alone, and when you see that in South Africa and the West Indies, we played a series there [West Indies] recently and there was hardly anyone there [shows the change]. Then you see the Caribbean Premier League, and it is packed.
I think over time, and it’s going to be a gradual progression, I think it [cricket] is going to move more towards soccer, and how that’s played with leagues, then international cricket – it [Test cricket] is not just the priority.
“I think that is still a long, long way away but it’s just how things have shifted.”
The worldwide players union, the Federation of International Cricketers Association, has called for greater context for Test and one-day internationals, in part to help ensure the best players remain available and are less inclined to freelance in domestic Twenty20 competitions.
The decision to trial a day-night Test in Adelaide against New Zealand next month, with the inducement of $1 million in prize money for the three-Test series, is a way authorities are attempting to develop a blueprint to help reinvigorate the format, particularly in countries outside of England and Australia where support for Tests generally remains healthy.
Watson, 34, said the explosion of the Big Bash League in Australia, which begins while the Test summer is still at its peak and has forced the domestic one-day series and Sheffield Shield matches to other times, reinforced the changing nature of the sport locally.
“To think that the Big Bash is competing against Test cricket, and it’s dominating, whether it’s ratings or people actually coming along to the ground, it’s certainly at a very interesting stage,” Watson said.
“I know the hierarchies of Cricket Australia but also the ICC are trying to find the right balance but there is no doubt Test cricket is the ultimate.
It’s the tradition of the sport. But commerciality is also the priority for the boards as well.
“As you can see now, the Big Bash has shifted priorities to where the Matador Cup fits in, and where the Sheffield Shield fits in.”
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