TheLocalYokel
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The current England v India test match at Edgbaston is being touched on in the BHX Random thread over the past day or two. Rather than go too far off course in that thread I thought I'd ask this question here.
The England v India test match is likely to finish in three and a half days (or less) because neither of the sides was able to find a batsman, Kohli apart (and even he rode his luck at times), who could occupy the crease and build an innings. The likes of Root and Cook have proved in the past that they can do it but with Root I wonder if the non-first class game is having a growing adverse effect. I hope to be proved wrong in this series with Root scoring a big century.
Unless weather intervenes, more and more five-day tests seem to be finishing inside the distance. Is this the influence of 20:20 and one-day cricket which the players are spending more and more time playing?
I love cricket but I regard the single innings variety (especially 20:20) as mainly an entertainment that lacks the nuances, strategy and tactics of a full-blown test match. I compare 20:20 cricket with 5-a side football. How can players learn to improvise in 20:20 cricket unless they have learned to play cricket properly in the first-class environment? The knock-about comedy acrobats we sometimes see in a circus have all learned to be expert acrobats in the first place, or they could not act the fool in their comedy routines.
I watched a bit of the 20:20 Somerset v Essex match yesterday on the Internet. As someone who wants to see a serious sporting contest it was the worst of all worlds, but I concede that Somerset's innings was vastly entertaining if you like to see big hitting against woeful bowling.
Essex gathered a measly 135-9 from their 20 overs which Somerset overtook from only 11 overs and 2 balls without losing a wicket. Somerset's veteran South African 20:20 opener scored a century and he was ably supported by a 20-year old at the other end who did well in that aspect. What worried me though was that the 20 year old's first real scoring shot was an ugly six that he contrived to scoop over his shoulder. I would have gone potty had I been his coach. He could not and would not have played that sort of shot in a first-class match and he clearly has not learned his trade sufficiently to be able to do that even in a 20:20 match at this stage of his career, unless it was desperation stakes towards the end of an innings.
When I see youngsters playing those sort of shots in 20:20 matches I really do wonder how they can ever change their mindset to bat all day in a test match when required.
This will probably be seen by many as the ramblings of an old curmudgeon. That would be a fair comment if cricket lovers are content to see test cricket die in the coming years as it surely will if domestic first-class cricket is not afforded the spotlight and importance it once enjoyed, with the result that the only professional cricket on offer in the future will be one-day and 20:20 (or even less than that if current ECB deliberations come to fruition with the new city-based franchise competition) with mediocre bowling and batsmen slogging at every ball because they won't have learned how to play proper shots in first-class cricket.
The England v India test match is likely to finish in three and a half days (or less) because neither of the sides was able to find a batsman, Kohli apart (and even he rode his luck at times), who could occupy the crease and build an innings. The likes of Root and Cook have proved in the past that they can do it but with Root I wonder if the non-first class game is having a growing adverse effect. I hope to be proved wrong in this series with Root scoring a big century.
Unless weather intervenes, more and more five-day tests seem to be finishing inside the distance. Is this the influence of 20:20 and one-day cricket which the players are spending more and more time playing?
I love cricket but I regard the single innings variety (especially 20:20) as mainly an entertainment that lacks the nuances, strategy and tactics of a full-blown test match. I compare 20:20 cricket with 5-a side football. How can players learn to improvise in 20:20 cricket unless they have learned to play cricket properly in the first-class environment? The knock-about comedy acrobats we sometimes see in a circus have all learned to be expert acrobats in the first place, or they could not act the fool in their comedy routines.
I watched a bit of the 20:20 Somerset v Essex match yesterday on the Internet. As someone who wants to see a serious sporting contest it was the worst of all worlds, but I concede that Somerset's innings was vastly entertaining if you like to see big hitting against woeful bowling.
Essex gathered a measly 135-9 from their 20 overs which Somerset overtook from only 11 overs and 2 balls without losing a wicket. Somerset's veteran South African 20:20 opener scored a century and he was ably supported by a 20-year old at the other end who did well in that aspect. What worried me though was that the 20 year old's first real scoring shot was an ugly six that he contrived to scoop over his shoulder. I would have gone potty had I been his coach. He could not and would not have played that sort of shot in a first-class match and he clearly has not learned his trade sufficiently to be able to do that even in a 20:20 match at this stage of his career, unless it was desperation stakes towards the end of an innings.
When I see youngsters playing those sort of shots in 20:20 matches I really do wonder how they can ever change their mindset to bat all day in a test match when required.
This will probably be seen by many as the ramblings of an old curmudgeon. That would be a fair comment if cricket lovers are content to see test cricket die in the coming years as it surely will if domestic first-class cricket is not afforded the spotlight and importance it once enjoyed, with the result that the only professional cricket on offer in the future will be one-day and 20:20 (or even less than that if current ECB deliberations come to fruition with the new city-based franchise competition) with mediocre bowling and batsmen slogging at every ball because they won't have learned how to play proper shots in first-class cricket.