etcetera

Zimbabwe's return to test cricket was very impressive. Match was very competitive with both teams having good chance to win till 4th day. Two were almost evenly matched teams. Agreed that current England- India series is more one sided, but India had their chances and teams were more or less well matched on paper. Such matches are much more fun that one sided matches between top test teams and the cellar-dwellers like Bangladesh or Zimbabwe. With new football season about to begin this weekend, I wonder if similar structure could be applied to cricket as well to have more competitive matches and continued interest in test cricket. Two-tiered test cricket with promotion/ relegation could be the answer.

With 10 test teams, we can have 6 teams in top tier, viz., India, England, Australia, Sri Lanka, South Africa and Pakistan. And the rest, i.e., West Indies, New Zealand, Zimbabwe and Bangladesh, in 2nd tier. ICC is already proposing Test Championship. So why not have it among top 6 teams? And another tournament among second tier. (What prompted me to divide teams in these groups? I guess it's quite obvious. Zimbabwe are playing their next test against New Zealand, so this proves pedigree of the teams)

It would be run over 2 year period. During this period each team will play other team in test series (minimum 3 tests), either home or away. If one team plays at home against particular team, it plays away against same team in next tournament. Test series win would fetch 3 points and 1 for drawn series. Or we can have test wise scoring system as well. So at the end of 3 years the team with maximum points wins. No more complex calculations to decide world champion. After each tournament team at the bottom of the group relegates and team topping second tier would be promoted. So teams which are not good enough from top tier would automatically get relegated and teams like say New Zealand would get promoted.

So when would teams like New Zealand play against say India or Australia in that 2 year period? For that there could be knock-out tournament like FA Cup, which could run annually or biennially. 2 winners of knock-out matches in 2nd tier would join 6 teams in quarter finals. This would be based on random draws and so West Indies could be drawn against say England. This would be followed by Semis and Finals. Now this could be 2 or 3 test series. Effectively this gives even Bangladesh to compete and play with top teams in Semis and Finals provided they are good enough.

So in 2 year period, a test team would be playing 5 test series for the Championship and 2-3 test series for the Cup. Overall 7-8 test series in 2 year period, which is in sync with current schedules. But these series would be more competitive and should produce better cricket with everything to play for!

ICC has recently announced its Futures Tours Program which gives overview of the cricketing tours and number of Test matches/ ODIs/ T20s till 2020. One of the thing which ICC could have avoided is 2 test series, as they often do not result in meaningful conclusion. With waning popularity of test cricket, meaningless series is last thing ICC could ask for.

Overall popularity of test cricket, especially crowds in stadiums, has been decreasing over last decade. Apart from England and Australia stadiums are hardly full for test matches, not even in 'cricket-crazy' India. So what could be possibly done to pump up the crowds in stadium? Few ideas based on last Cricinfo podcast and article I had read some time back (I couldn't find article :( )!

Most important sports these days are 'Events'. They are marketed and presented to the audience in nice package as something which would like to have as a part of lifestyle. Take example of EPL, which markets itself as best football league and as a great way to spend Saturday evening. Or tennis Grand Slams, which people aspire to go and watch. With busy lifestyles, it's important to have such sporting occasions on weekends/ holidays, when people can go and watch it. Football matches are played on weekends or at nights during weekdays. Grand Slams, F1, Tour de France are all arranged in European summer, the time when people usually take big vacation.

Even cricket matches in England and Australia are scheduled in summer time, when people can come and watch matches whole day. Test matches in early summer, in say May hardly draw any crowds. So its the occasion which people want to associate with! Boxing Day Test match at Melbourne or Lord's Test. Unfortunately, BCCI fails to create such aura about Test matches. People would flock stadiums if the sporting event is marketed properly. Take example of recently concluded World Cup. People were ready to pay anything just to soak the atmosphere in stadium. IPL which is held during holidays thrives on massive crowds in stadium.

While hosting any test match its imperative that there should be weekend in between. There have been instances in the past when BCCI had scheduled test matches which were between Monday and Friday. It's impossible to get good crowds for such matches. Ideally, as is the case in England, test matches should start on Thursdays.

Now about creating event around test matches. With many people taking holidays during Winter, it won't be very difficult task. Wouldn't it be great to have fixed test centres and dates coinciding with festivals or holidays. For example, how about having Pongal Test in Chennai every year or Republic Day test in Delhi or say Diwali test in Mumbai. If such 'events' are carefully nurtured, people could even think of including such test matches into their itinerary of trips during winter time, just like people plan their trips as per big tennis or football tournaments.

More importantly stadium facilities should be improved a lot. If people have to stay in the stadium for the entire day, it should be comfortable outing with friends and family rather than ordeal of 7 hours in scorching sun. Grass banks and barbecues would be welcome.

Problem is that BCCI takes Indian audience for granted and there is no effort to improve overall experience of cricket watching. I hope BCCI would make most of it's overflowing coffers for this purpose.