Is test cricket dying?

[fezzie]

seems to be a popular topic these days. guys im doing a research on this topic as a part of my assignment so i have a few questions.

1. Do you think test cricket is dying?

2. Do you think the 20-20 tournaments are having an impact on Test cricket?

3. Do you think the prices for tickets to test matches are overpriced?


thanks guys

 

[Uppercut]

Sounds like a fun assignment

Personally, i don't think so. Test cricket has always been a niche market and it's not threatened by T20 any more than golf is threatened by football. I'd say the opposite, that T20 will get a lot more young people into cricket because it's much more accessible than tests.

Others would say that young players will start choosing to play T20s over tests, but i fail to see a scenario where they'd be forced to choose.

 

[Noble One]

1. Do you think test cricket is dying?

Test cricket has always had peaks and troughs. I don't believe at all that the format is dying. The anticipation and discussion towards The Ashes 09 shows how Test cricket can still bring true passion to the game.

2. Do you think the 20-20 tournaments are having an impact on Test cricket?

Not as yet. Test cricket still remains the number one format of choice for the majority of cricketers. When Ricky Ponting overturns a tour of England due to IPL commitments then I will begin to have my concerns.

3. Do you think the prices for tickets to test matches are overpriced?

I can't speak for global pricing, but I know Australian pricing is a little expensive. I can never work out why Cricket Australia can keep ticketprices constant and have half empty grounds. Supply and demand should rule. I always figure that if the quality of the contest is good, who cares what you pay, it is 7 hours of fantastic entertainment. I still recall every single Test match I have attended, stretching back over 15 years, priceless memories really.

 

[archie mac]

seems to be a popular topic these days. guys im doing a research on this topic as a part of my assignment so i have a few questions.

1. Do you think test cricket is dying?

2. Do you think the 20-20 tournaments are having an impact on Test cricket?

3. Do you think the prices for tickets to test matches are overpriced?


thanks guys

1. no

2. no

3. because tickets sales are such a small part of the income now generated by cricket, which relies much more on TV revenue. I think they should be free or at least very cheap, say $5.00.

In England where they sell out most Test matches then it should be a much higher cost

 

[Athlai]

1. no

2. no

3. because tickets sales are such a small part of the income now generated by cricket, which relies much more on TV revenue. I think they should be free or at least very cheap, say $5.00.

In England where they sell out most Test matches then it should be a much higher cost

I think T20 definitely has an impact on Test cricket. Take Bravo playing in the IPL yet not in the Test series, if the IPL didn't exist would the same decision have been made? It's a relatively small impact but it should be felt all the same. All forms of cricket impact on each other, and T20 seems to eat up more and more of the schedule, another T20 WC?

I want a Test series.

 

[Top_Cat]

As long as Test cricket is seen as the highest form of the sport, I don't think it'll die. As soon as that changes, though......

Definitely see the number of Tests in the future reduced before the number of ODI's is, unfortunately.

 

[Briony]

We can't afford too many more series like the recent Windies/poms one.

 

[BoyBrumby]

seems to be a popular topic these days. guys im doing a research on this topic as a part of my assignment so i have a few questions.

1. Do you think test cricket is dying?

2. Do you think the 20-20 tournaments are having an impact on Test cricket?

3. Do you think the prices for tickets to test matches are overpriced?


thanks guys

1) No with a but. The "but" is that it might be starting to enter a trough in terms of popularity. Not massively so (yet), but a few things need to change. England is traditionally the safest market for tests, but the recent crowd for the Durham test showed even we have a saturation point.

2) Yes. We're starting to see it already with the Sri Lankan players essentially rejecting the chance to play a series here for the extra money they can get at the IPL. & it's no slight on them that they did, btw; I imagine a lot of us would do the same.

3) **** me yes. In the UK they're obscene. The money for a ticket for one day of a London test would pay my satellite subscription for six weeks plus.

As long as Test cricket is seen as the highest form of the sport, I don't think it'll die. As soon as that changes, though......

Aye. Sad to reflect, re Gayle's recent comments, it may already be happening tho. If a country's test skipper prefers 2020 we might be already on a slippery slope to tests losing their pre-eminance.

 

[Debris]

1. Test cricket is OK in Australia. Not sure about other countries but seems to be in trouble in some countires though (crowds looks really small in SA, for starters).

2. I don't think T20s will have an effect on test cricket. 50 over matches will be affected though.

3. This is probably a country by country thing. I guess if you sell out ground or get a decent crowd then they are not overpriced, otherwise yes.

 

[rivera213]

seems to be a popular topic these days. guys im doing a research on this topic as a part of my assignment so i have a few questions.

1. Do you think test cricket is dying?

2. Do you think the 20-20 tournaments are having an impact on Test cricket?

3. Do you think the prices for tickets to test matches are overpriced?


thanks guys

1- No, though the BCCI would like that to happen.

2- No, because the centrally contracted players can be stopped from going to the IPL if it's the board's wish. I can't see the quality test players who are also quality T20 players choosing a bat and ball game over test cricket.

3- Yes, but when there is such a demand like for the Ashes, the boards can do what they want. t's tough ****. They are no dearer than football matches which are only 90 minutes long so you get value for money (£55 for 8 hours).

 

[Smith]

Yes

Test cricket will not cease to exist altogether although it's primacy is definitely on the decline. Considering India is becoming the monopoly of cricket, and that test cricket is on death throes there as far as popularity is concerned, it is inevitable that it would be relegated to even sub-ODIs status.

Yes

Sri Lankan players' reluctance to take part in the IPL, Windies' captain's open admission that he'd care for T20s than tests, etc are ample indications that players are considering playing exclusively in T20s as a better career option than representing the national teams in tests. A survey conducted among Australian players last year revealed that a third of players put IPL and tournaments like that over playing for their country. A similar survey in England revealed that about 50% of players would prefer IPL over county cricket and about 20% would even quit playing for their country if they get a lucrative offer from the rebel league ICL.

Yes

England's ticket prices are horrible to say the least. It is just pure love for the game that keeps the crowd coming despite the exorbitant prices. Test cricket needs to evolve and administrators have to brainstorm about means of making it more entertaining for the layman public while retaining it's charms for the hardcore fan.

 

[silentstriker]

Absolutely. Without offending, I think the people from the few countries who still get Test crowds (England and Australia mainly) have blinders on. And that's hurting the game, big time. But it'll reach them too, and hopefully it's not too late by that point.

IPL attracts more viewers, on the field and on TV, than an India-Australia Test series. Test cricket needs to market itself fast. That means referrals, day night cricket, maybe colored clothes and names on the back, etc. Sitting in a full house at Lord's on the opening day of the summer, it's easy to be fooled.

1- No, though the BCCI would like that to happen.

BCCI gets such a small amount of money from Tests, and their biggest expense is the entire domestic First Class circuit which takes tens and tens of millions of dollars to run and makes zero money. If they really wanted to end it, they would have.

The question is not whether someone wants to end it, but whether they will be forced to.

 

[PhoenixFire]

Yeah, I mean the ECB will manage to get crowds for the Ashes if they charge 100 quid a ticket, so I don't think that is the major problem. I think they shoudl look at reducing the prices for minor series like the WI ones and reducing them for ODI games.

 

[chaminda_00]

I do agree with SS, a lot of Australian and England based viewers seem to have the binders on when it comes to Test Cricket. Yeah they may still get full crowds or atleast for any semi major Test series. But for every other country the format is dying a slow death. It makes no money and no one turns up to watch the games live.

It is easy to blame Twenty20. But the issues started long before Twenty20 come on Internationally. Live TV for cricket all around the world, reduces the need to see players live. Back in the day the only way you can see overseas players live was going to watch them play at the ground or during a home summer. Now someone like Ajantha Mendis could be a house hold name in Australia, without ever playing Test cricket in Australia. There isn't really a need to watch a game live at the ground anymore.

The other issue is the current format with 2-Test matches series all over the place. You need 3-5 Tests to create interest in a series. Most series are over before they start.

Global TV and 2-Test match series were killing Test cricket long before prices went up to stupid levels and Twenty20 came in.

 

[pasag]

Have argued that high ticket prices and non-free to air Test cricket especially in England is alienating the future generation of cricket fans for short term profits. But not a pom, so what would I know?

Refuse to entertain the notion that coloured clothes will have any impact on the game until I see any market research evidence to the contrary. Night Test cricket is a must.

For all the talk of Test cricket dying, would like to see some trends and figures ie drops in attendances, TV audiences etc. And if it is dropping, is it because other sports and activities are stealing viewers, or is it other formats of the game? (again, not conjecture real figures). For all we know the boost in T20 patronage could be a completely new market which could have a major flow on opportunity for Test cricket.

Aside from all that, I don't think the boards market Test cricket very well. The product's great, we all know that, but they place much more attention and efforts on the ***ier versions and it's that vested interest which is most harmful. As long as ODIs/T20 is doing well, they won't care. Give the marketing of Test cricket to a semi-autonomous unit and you'll see marked improvment, imho.

Let's also not get carried away by a spike of a format in its initial growth stage. Yes it's doing well, yes the IPL, WC et al were stunning successes, but will the momentum still be going strong after another 5 years? Way too soon to tell.

 

[PhoenixFire]

I think if you ask kids in England that play cricket, "Who do you want to play cricket for when you are older?", I'm pretty sure that 99% of them will say that want to play Test cricket rather than ODI. Test cricket is still the premier event in England, as far as cricket goes and I think that it will be this way for at least a few years to come.

I think that part of the reason is the kids who play cricket will most likely play and follow football with their fathers/brothers and so they'll probably have Sky Sports. Sky Sports is where cricket is on TV so they will still watch the Test teams play.

 

[silentstriker]

For all the talk of Test cricket dying, would like to see some trends and figures ie drops in attendances, TV audiences etc.

I will try to find it, but I've noticed even in my short period of watching Test cricket, the alarming drop in attendance in Indian Test matches. Even I remember watching full houses when any side of note came to a decent sized city. India-Australia Test attendance was a disgrace.

Unfortunately, grounds in India don't have websites where you can look this stuff up. But I'll see if I can find TV figures.

 

[DaRick]

I will try to find it, but I've noticed even in my short period of watching Test cricket, the alarming drop in attendance in Indian Test matches. Even I remember watching full houses when any side of note came to a decent sized city. India-Australia Test attendance was a disgrace.

Unfortunately, grounds in India don't have websites where you can look this stuff up. But I'll see if I can find TV figures.

Dennis Lillee has commented (in his autobiography) that Test attendances in India had been relatively sparse - back in the early 2000's, before the advent of the 20/20 phenomenon.

Lillee did add that the match-fixing saga (which heavily involved India) alienated a lot of people. Would there still be a residual effect? Would people simply not turn up because they think that a match might be fixed, or as some sort of bizarre moral stand? Possibly, but it'd be less likely now than back then.

Is Test cricket dying? Well, it depends where you go. In England and Australia, it is still strong, but South African crowds (with the exception of maybe the initial post-apartheid) years have always shown a preference for ODI cricket. In New Zealand, cricket has always been overshadowed by rugby union, so no changes there. As for the West Indies, popularity seems to be strongly linked (I mean, even more than elsewhere) to the team's performances. For example, when they beat England, there was a lot of adulation and (seemingly premature) talk of a revival.

Is 20/20 affecting the popularity of Test cricket? Maybe, maybe not. If Lillee's comments are anything to go by, it may not be affecting it a great deal. I don't like 20/20 cricket, but it does have the potential to introduce a new audience into the game, which may then take a liking to Test cricket (even though Tests tend to be more idiosyncratic and about as accessible to many as a Nine Inch Nails album).

20/20 may rejuvenate Test cricket in another way - by demonstrating how marketing techniques can be used to make seemingly slight fare (let's face it, 20/20 lacks long-term memorability and any real sense of cricketing nous and substance) seem like something magnificent, then why not apply the same methods to a more subtle yet more complex form of the game and see where that takes you?

The only problem is that, since 20/20 has about as much in common with Test cricket as a piece of graffiti on one of the walls at Old Trafford, marketing techniques used to bolster 20/20 cricket's popularity may not work that effectively with Test cricket. I suppose this is where international strategic management (or some such) comes in, where you can market the same product differently in each country.

I know that other posters have touched on this, but without really noting the difference between the two formats or taking to account how marketing will have to adapt to the various cultures of countries.

 

[Smith]

Lillee did add that the match-fixing saga (which heavily involved India) alienated a lot of people. Would there still be a residual effect. Would people simply not turn up because they think that a match might be fixed, or as some sort of bizarre moral stand? Possibly, but it'd be less likely now than back then.

I am not sure about match fixing episode alienating people from test cricket. Matchfixing almost always involved ODIs. However I don't remember many ODIs which did not have sell out crowds since 2000 in India. The truth is that India is developing nation, and most of it's development happened over the last 15 years or so. A quantum jump was registered in the number of literates, graduates and employed people. This meant they had better things to attend to, work hard rather than care about test cricket which runs barren for 5 days at a stretch in the worst conditions imaginable. India's generally mediocre test form till recently, coupled with the nature of pitches, couldn't have done anything other than keeping people away from the grounds.

 

[Uppercut]

Absolutely. Without offending, I think the people from the few countries who still get Test crowds (England and Australia mainly) have blinders on. And that's hurting the game, big time. But it'll reach them too, and hopefully it's not too late by that point.

IPL attracts more viewers, on the field and on TV, than an India-Australia Test series. Test cricket needs to market itself fast. That means referrals, day night cricket, maybe colored clothes and names on the back, etc. Sitting in a full house at Lord's on the opening day of the summer, it's easy to be fooled.



BCCI gets such a small amount of money from Tests, and their biggest expense is the entire domestic First Class circuit which takes tens and tens of millions of dollars to run and makes zero money. If they really wanted to end it, they would have.

The question is not whether someone wants to end it, but whether they will be forced to.

See, i don't see why it's a T20 vs. tests duel to the death for ratings. Premiership football has been outselling test cricket significantly too for years and it hasn't ceased to exist because of that. People who want to follow a sport that lasts five days and still doesn't bring a result are a niche market and always have been- we're not going to stop watching because there's a thrill-a-minute alternative.

On the contrary, I'd say T20 gives the sport much-needed accessibility. I can take my 12-year-old brother to a game and he can watch lots of sixes and fours and get excited about cricket. At some point it may or may not grow into a love of the game, but it's a lot more likely than if there was nothing but tests to bring him to. Talk to avid fans about what got them into cricket and you'll often hear of "champagne moments"- South Africa chasing 400, the '99 world cup semi, Geraint Jones's catch down the leg side, Malinga's four in four. T20 is absolutely full of these moments of excitement that grab you and won't let you go. It's only once you're a fan that you start to really appreciate the finer points of a hard-fought test match.

You're not selling me on test cricket dying "because far more people want to watch T20". More people want to eat cornflakes, shower in the morning and **** Megan Fox too. None of that's going to kill the game.