Cricket Australia can kill two birds with one stone by scheduling a Test at the start of each summer against a developing nation.
It would give those “minnow” countries a rare chance to play red-ball cricket in Australia and also give the local players a “warm-up” match before taking on their main opponents for the summer.
Pat Cummins and Andrew McDonald claimed they were satisfied with the limited preparation that most players had in the lead-up to the first Test and it wasn’t a factor in their 295-run belting at the hands of an Indian side coming off five straight Tests on their home soil.
But it was obvious that the Aussie players looked much better for the run in Perth when they took to the field in Adelaide, particularly Cummins, who sat out all three Sheffield Shield rounds earlier in the summer.
The skipper was back to his brilliant best in the 10-wicket second Test triumph with a match haul of 7-98 including five in the second dig.
Bangladesh, Ireland, Zimbabwe and Afghanistan – if their government lifts its ban on women’s cricket – would make for ideal opponents for the Australian team in a one-off Test early in a home summer.
Venues like Hobart, Canberra or a Top End option like Darwin or Cairns could host the Test which will probably get low crowds and modest TV ratings but would still be well worth playing.
England have employed a similar scheduling tactic in recent years by giving Ireland a Test at the start of their summer as an entree before the main course.
Bangladesh and Zimbabwe have not played a Test in Australia since 2003 while Ireland and Afghanistan have never had the chance since being elevated to full ICC member status in 2017.
Another benefit would be that Australia’s notoriously risk averse selectors could use one of these Tests as a testing ground for a fringe player like Sam Konstas, Lance Morris or Spencer Johnson before facing bigger challenges against more established Test playing nations.
Incoming CA chief executive Todd Greenberg is a big picture thinker while chairman Mike Baird has spoken several times during his tenure about Australia being a better global corporate citizen in helping the smaller nations to compete with the traditional powerhouses.
Sam Konstas. (Photo by Mark Evans/Getty Images)
With the next Future Tours Program not far away, now would be a perfect time to get wheels in motion for Australia to do more than pay lip service to the issue and commit to regularly hosting games against world cricket’s lesser lights.
There wouldn’t be too many tears shed if the calendar-filler white-ball series like the recent contests against Pakistan are wiped from the schedule altogether to accommodate an extra Test.
But there should be room for both – unless there’s an ICC tournament being held in October, there is usually a yawning gap between the end of the winter football seasons and the start of the home cricketing summer.
For Test cricket to survive, the ICC cannot simply rely on the big three nations of India, England and Australia playing the majority of matches against each other while feeding the scraps of the schedule to a few other nations and letting the others go hungry.
Depending on your viewpoint, it’s either remarkable that South Africa are on top of the World Test Championship standings or their likely qualification for the final casts doubts over the credibility of the competition.
The Proteas sent a second or third-string side to New Zealand last year at the start of the WTC cycle because they wanted to keep their star players at home to attract fans to their domestic T20 tournament.
But after virtually forfeiting that two-match series, they have risen up the rankings by racking up wins over the West Indies, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka and can seal a spot in the final by accounting for Pakistan when they arrive for a two-Test series starting on Boxing Day in Pretoria.
South Africa have not faced Australia, England or India during the two-year cycle but they are now odds on to be lining up in the final at Lord’s next June against Pat Cummins’ defending champions, unless they capitulate in their final three Tests against India and their two-match tour of Sri Lanka early next year.
When the Future Tours Program is locked in for 2027 onwards, the amount of Test cricket does not necessarily need to go up but a more even spread of matches among the nations should be a priority for the schedule makers.
Nations like South Africa, the West Indies and New Zealand have conceded that these matches are not financially viable under the current funding model.
The richer nations of India, Australia and England can play their part by putting their hand up to host more games against the less affluent countries.
A rising tide lifts all boats but only if there’s a willingness from these nations and the ICC to make sacrifices for the greater good.
Wishful thinking, perhaps, but if the current disregard for Test cricket’s big picture is allowed to continue, the big three nations won’t have to worry about playing any other teams because no one else will bother.
>Cricket News
%20(3).jpeg)
0 Comments