by Kimberte William

Created on: March 20, 2009

Test cricket is as the name implies a test. A test of will and test of endurance, but as of late this classic form of the game has lost out to the shorter version. The advent of one-day international cricket and the now popular 20/20 version of the game has to some meant the impending doom of the 5 day game. However, there are ways to make this classic form of the game more relevant. Test cricket needs a facelift, both in terms of the play and the aesthetic appeal.

Allow me to start with the fundamentals of this version of the game. If we look at why 20/20 cricket has become popular we can see why test cricket is slowly losing out on relevance. Firstly, this short form of the game is well...short. Many cricket fans do not have the patience to watch in real life or on television a 4-5 day game. Many tune in when there is a heated climax to the game or not at all. Suggesting a reduction in the game sounds absurd and would upset many of the old time, die hard cricket fans. I believe in order to fill the stands for test matches and keep the viewers interested some drastic changes should be implemented.

One such change is night days. Perhaps in the earlier days of the test match games could be played under the lights. This will afford viewers the chance to catch a bit of the game at night and encourage fans to go in after work. This is a tentative solution that can be tweaked. These day/night days can be supplemented by a regular day game. In other words, one day/night test day followed by a regular test day. This option will add a further test to the players and afford viewers and fans to watch the game on days which suit them. Every test match does not have to be the same day/night format. Each match can be tweaked to fit to the days of the week. In other words a test match which encompasses a weekend may schedule day games for those days and night games for the others. I believe the aforementioned solution can help re-kindle interest in the game and add an extra element to the game that will please test lovers and challenge test players.

I believe that there are not many things that we can tinker with in the test game but aesthetic appeal is one of them. The traditional whites are a turn off to many viewers and have provided a misconception as to how boring the sport is in now cricketing nations. How is cricket to attract fans when many of the non-cricketing nations view it as silly old guys in white sipping on tea in the afternoon whilst hitting the ball with a paddle. And yes many of them do call it a "paddle" not a bat. I know to the older cricket fans the whites are traditional and I am not suggesting a total move away from them. I propose that in line with the one-day kits, the test kits should consist of 70% white and 30% the country's colours. This may be in the form of stripes or distinct patterns on the upper and lower wear. In order to keep relevant you must keep fashionable i.e. you must be eye-catching and attention grabbing and the whites are just not cutting it.

To conclude I want to summarise my points. In order to keep the classic form of the game, a face lift must be undertaken. Bolstering both the visuals and the spectacle of play will create an ambiance in test cricket not seen in its entire history.

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