How to make Test Cricket more interesting?

[max_dillon2007]

What do the ICC Officials do? Well they dont play cricket and i am sure as hell none of them have ever played any kind of serious cricket, let alone the International cricket. So these Fat-ass sit in there corner office in the ac and do nothing. But if they do nothing then people would think they are worthless peace of crap. Thus they had to make some weird announcement or create some controversy from time and again so that people would think that ICC is doing their job. Thus one of those Fat-@ss thought:cool: "How to make the oldest and purest form of cricket more interesting???" bingo :happy"Reduce the number of days from test match and fit more T20, modi would be so proud".ICC thought that reducing test cricket to 4 days would attract more people but this is utter bullcrap. Only thing it will produce is more draws. Then ICC moans 'bout the flat pitches created all around the world and even some teams cry over pitches when they get pitches which do not assist them. Well, every curator would create a pitch which would assist his home team, thats what home advantages is all about. Thus Indian,Sri lankan and Pakistani Teams should not cry over seaming bouncy and grassy tracks when they travel abroad and england,Australia,newzealand should not cry over turning tracks. Moreover the pitches depends upon the condition. You just cannot prepare a grassy track in Delhi or Kolkata, its just not possible. So there is only one option left to make Test cricket more interesting and even out the contest between bat&ball even if the pitch is a flat deck. To my surprise, ICC have not thought of this yet.

Here is my solution. Why tamper with the rules of game when game can be made more interesting by modifying old accessory. Why cant they just made the seam of the ball more pronounced and of more hard material so that seam doesnt die after 10 overs like kookaburra balls. By pronounced seam, bowlers can get seam movement even on dead tracks and it would asst spin bowlers too. So batting would become harder as the bowlers would now be able to create angles which were unthinkable before. So lets discuss this here and post your suggestions to make test cricket more interesting.

Note: I personally like the test cricket the way it is. I dont want any tampering but if ICC is determined to take some step to change test cricket then i would prefer my suggestion rather than reducing the number of days.

 

[mattfb]

Please. Get off it. Leave Test cricket alone.

 

[Gilly Fan]

Keep it as it is. It's awesome now.

 

[sifter132]

Agree with you that cricket is great as is, and also about the balls, so:
Step 1) make the Duke or SG the worldwide standard ball. Probably the Duke.
Step 2) make pitches that are good for bowlers - not just greentops, fair pitches that seam AND take spin. That's what Test cricket is all about for me, surviving and scoring runs against 'test'ing bowling.
Step 3) crack down on bad over rates - properly. Fine a team RUNS (or a fielder penalty) for all overs they haven't bowled by the allotted time.

They are the main 3 things in my mind that will improve the game.

Others ideas I like, but aren't really necessary:
4) Make grounds at least a certain size - more important for ODIs/T20 IMO, but would be good anyway.
5) Limit the number of overs one bowler can bowl in a day to around 25. It would add more strategy instead of 'lets bowl Murali from one end all day'.
6) Use Hawkeye for LBWs (challenged LBWs that is) and show it on the big screen. Tennis is a game that has done well out of Hawkeye IMO. There is good tension when the Hawkeye replay goes up on the big screen and a similar thing could be done in cricket. Build in a few millimeters of error to give the batsman a bit of 'benefit of the doubt' leniency and to allow for Hawkeye's small potential error. Then you'd just need a hotspot to show there is no inside edge, then throw the Hawkeye replay up for all to see. The crowd would see the ball hitting/missing the stumps and 90% of them would be happy that the right decision was being made.
7) My own pet theory: stop the tosses being so important. How? Auction the right to choose what you will do. Captains would bid in runs, or something like 'overs in the field with only 10 fielders'. Something valuable to them anyway and then they would bid away instead of throwing a coin up. You could have a live auction, or the captains just submit a piece of paper to the match referee with their bid figure on it. Would make the process much fairer and more strategic.

 

[Howsie]

Ummmm, no. Most of the test cricket I have seen lately has been fine, although some games can be ruined by dead tracks.

Just keep it as it is.

make pitches that are good for bowlers - not just greentops, fair pitches that seam AND take spin. That's what Test cricket is all about for me, surviving and scoring runs against 'test'ing bowling.

If only it was that easy. It would be very difficult to create those types of pitches, plus you don't want to make it to easy for the bowlers.

My Ideal pitch would be:

1st day: Movement for the 1st session, with the second session evening out.
2nd day and 3rd days would be the best for batting. This way both teams get a even amount of time batting on a good batting pitch.
4th day: The pitch begins to break up bring the spinners into the game
5th day: Havoc, the pitch is turning and the ball is keeping low. Well maybe not that bad, but make it has hard as the first morning.

 

[mattfb]

Ummmm, no. Most of the test cricket I have seen lately has been fine, although some games can be ruined by dead tracks.

Just keep it as it is.

Hmm yes actually that's the only thing I will changed. Less flat tracks. More green. More cracks. More uneven. More rough. Less roads!!

 

[King Pietersen]

Rules the same, but improve the bloody pitches. We see far too many dead tracks that offer nothing to the bowlers. We need to see some quick bouncy pitches in Australia, some green, quick seaming tracks in England and NZ, a nice mix of the 2 in South Africa, seriously quick white pitches in the Windies and then the Subcontinental pitches need to be real bunsens. It'd make Test cricket so much more exciting, as there's actually something there for all the bowlers, not just the ones that bowl at 95mph.

 

[aditya123]

Leave it as it is and keep the emphasis on improving pitches.

 

[Dr. Pepper]

Stop making pitches that are batsmen's heaven.

 

[tech.007]

The pitches should be of better quality.

Close Finishes.

 

[Insomniac]

No change, except better pitches. Just look at this test match going on - 2 days and no team can say they're clearly in front. The match still hangs in the balance.

 

[Aoun13]

I have an Idea but it will all ends up classic cricket,their should be four 50 overs innings each team having two innings.

 

[King Cricket]

They should improve the quality of world-wide pitches. That's the only change needed here. Otherwise, test cricket is just fine.

 

[SaiSrini]

As everyone says, improve pitches big time. Penalise countries that produce more than 25% of draws on their home pitches (penalise them big time). Absorbing draws can happen only 5% of the time or so. Make it illegal for the home captain to instruct the home curator regarding the pitch. The captain should have no say on the type of pitch prepared. Also over helpful wickets (for bowlers) should be penalised too (like the gardens India encountered in NZ in 2002).

Maybe day/night tests could be tried (just have a single break in between for dinner, just like how it is in an ODI match). But such day/night games should be rare and far in between.

 

[Insomniac]

As everyone says, improve pitches big time. Penalise countries that produce more than 25% of draws on their home pitches (penalise them big time). Absorbing draws can happen only 5% of the time or so. Make it illegal for the home captain to instruct the home curator regarding the pitch. The captain should have no say on the type of pitch prepared. Also over helpful wickets (for bowlers) should be penalised too (like the gardens India encountered in NZ in 2002).

Maybe day/night tests could be tried (just have a single break in between for dinner, just like how it is in an ODI match). But such day/night games should be rare and far in between.

What's wrong with over helpful wickets for bowlers?

The pitch doesn't change (dramatically); it's the same game for everyone, and it produces a result. Besides, those are so rare, it's not worth discussing.

If we use your formula (penalizing teams who have more than 25% of their games as draws):

England 37.2%
South Africa 26.3%
West Indies 42.23%
India 47.0%
Pakistan 48.3%
New Zealand 43.3%
Sri Lanka 33.0%
Zimbabwe 36.4%

Now, are we REALLY going to penalize all those teams Sai?

Something else will have to be done. The only reason Australia isn't in that list is because they were so good for so long; I expect in a few years that percentage to increase.