Testing times: How fans and cash are pushing cricket into T20 camp
Testing times: How fans and cash are pushing cricket into T20 camp
It is an incongruity peculiar that Graeme Smith, one of South Africa’s most successful Test players and captain, is presaging the end of Test cricket in his own country. Smith was the youngest ever Test captain at 22. He held that position until his retirement in 2014. His record — 117 Tests, 9,000 runs with 27 hundreds. He led South Africa to a record 54 test wins.
Speaking to Sky Sports, Smith said: “You might only be down to five or six nations that play Test cricket at this level.”
Smith is now a strong advocate of South Africa’s new franchise T20 league, of which he is commissioner. This is where the irony gets tricky and unfortunate.
The face of Test cricket in South Africa for years is now theT20 brand ambassador.
Smith added, “I felt it was important for South Africa to get its own commercial league going, like the rest of the world has. I fear if we hadn’t done this South Africa could probably have lost eight to 10 players to this UAE T20 league so there has to be an element of investment to keep our players.”
By doing so, South African cricket is taking a leaf out of the BCCI playbook — sprint down the T20 fast lane to money-spinning.
Smith says as much: “The key is the money will flow back into the game. It is an investment I think South Africa cricket desperately needed.”
The 2023-27 Future Tours Programme reveals England will play 43 Tests in that period, Australia 40, and India 38 — but South Africa only 28 and Pakistan 27.
Therein lies a tale. Cricket is changing rapidly. Those who grew up in a different era where Test cricket dominated, shake their heads in dismay and disapproval at the dominance of white-ball cricket. But T20 is here to stay and rule.
And it is hard to miss the signs. Trent Boult, with 557 wickets across three formats, is one of the best pace bowlers New Zealand has produced. Yet, he recently gave up his central contract at the age of 33. Why? Because he obviously wants to make a few million dollars more before he retires.
Former Aussie great Ricky Ponting backed him saying this is going to happen more often as players look to feather their own nest in a truncated sporting career. He added what Boult possibly makes in a year from his New Zealand contract, he would be making multiples of that in a single season for a franchise.
Andre Russell of the West Indies, another big name, frequently plays in the leagues. Commenting on his unavailability for the West Indies team, Coach Phil Simmons, venting his frustration, wondered if he was supposed to beg players to join the national team.
Trent Boult, Andre Russell and Jason Roy are among the headline names confirmed as platinum players for the BBL (Big Bash League) overseas draft. There are 12 platinum players overall. They will be paid approximately $233,853.
The writing on the wall stares us in the face. T20 would dominate and forever change the game. There are several factors involved behind this evolution:
- Fans love it as they throng the stadium as well as watch it on hand-held devices
- Commercially, the money involved is huge
- Top players make millions of dollars
- The IPL was designed on the EPL (English Premier League) format
- Sponsors, advertisements, broadcast rights all head for T20 cricket with its associated leagues across the world
League cricket has also branded many players as “mercenaries”. This is unfair tagging because the nationalistic badge does not have to be pinned on players who try and monetise their talent to the maximum. For that matter, if Test cricket is nationalistic; so is the T20 national jersey.
Frenetic schedules are leading to burnouts and mental health issues. And the players are no longer choosing to ignore this.
“The schedule looking for the next five years is scary. I am glad that I am at the back end because it’s very-very difficult. I am obviously with the family; a lot of guys have young families as well. That’s going to be difficult… It’s very difficult at this level to try and compete (in) 80-90 games a year… That’s a lot of cricket,” said Australian cricketer David Warner to the media.
Warner has signed a two-year deal with Sydney Thunder.
Going by what Warner is saying, not many can play in all three formats. It is physically taxing. No wonder Ben Stokes said bye to ODIs.
The way forward plan would largely involve preparing an international calendar on lines of the EPL. Players are free for a duration to play for their countries or during the World Cup.
In time T20 might have a separate cricket board. The ODI format stands to die out.
Going by Graeme Smith’s prediction of a few Test playing nations, we might see the following trends:
- Stagnation
- Boredom
- Tired clashes between same set of players
Innovations like pink-ball Tests held in day/night format may also not be able to revive the five-day game which is touted as the best battle ever.
As the game evolves, the United States has a key role. It will become a T20 hub like the La Liga and Serie A in football. There are plans the 2028 LA Olympics would play host to T20.
Unmukt Chand, skipper of the World Cup U19 title winner, resigned from all formats in India (as the BCCI requires) to migrate to the US to play in leagues there. He is also the first Indian to play in the Big Bash league. Why should Unmukt hang around in India scouring for crumbs when he can get a much better deal abroad?
But how will a cricketer be remembered when it comes to records and statistics.
So far, by and large, the value of gold is currently measured on Test numbers. Yet, Hardik Pandya is a T20 superstar, known both for his batting and bowling abilities. And his captaincy skills should be counted too.
The T20 stars have modelled themselves on the American NBA (National Basketball Association) players. They regularly post snaps on Instagram with their expensive dog breeds, partying and the bling-factor.
For the purists and old timers, a yearning for the sprawling magic of Test cricket remains.
West Indies great Michael Holding stayed away from T20 commentary, saying: “What’s that?” Sunil Gavaskar never hid his disdain for the shorter format. But then why doesn’t he recuse himself from commentating on T20 when it is such a waste of his precious time?
The author is CEO of nnis. Views expressed are personal.
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