empireofdoom
Cricket Spectator
Hi all,
Long term forum lurker here,
As you can see from the thread title I'm wondering about 4 day test cricket, It seems pretty inevitable to me, given the current state of test cricket, that 4 days will become the regular schedule for test cricket in the future.
With that in mind I was wondering what everyone thought about the concept of a mandatory declaration in the first innings regardless of who wins the toss?
Basically the team batting first would get, say 120 overs, to set the first innings total and then the match would progress normally from there on with no restrictions on the amount of time per innings beyond the 4 days of course.
I wonder if this approach would generate more interest in the game? Or create a new way of playing, if a team does not fulfil their set overs for instance the game would continue as normal. I think that this would promote some of the skills of test cricket that are seemingly lacking at the moment such as solid defensive play and grinding out an innings.
I also think that this approach would lead to an exciting start to the game with teams learning to play an attacking brand of cricket for the first innings (that must be declared) in order to set up a match winning start to the game.
I acknowledge that the whole concept needs more thought, how many overs before the mandatory declaration for instance? or should both first innings be subject to a mandatory declaration? but at the same time I think it might create an interesting angle on the longer form of the game which I do not believe is in the best of health at this current time.
Let me know what you think or any changes you would suggest, or if you think it is a bad idea at least tell us/me why you think that,
I look forward to your responses,
new guy Empireofdoom
Long term forum lurker here,
As you can see from the thread title I'm wondering about 4 day test cricket, It seems pretty inevitable to me, given the current state of test cricket, that 4 days will become the regular schedule for test cricket in the future.
With that in mind I was wondering what everyone thought about the concept of a mandatory declaration in the first innings regardless of who wins the toss?
Basically the team batting first would get, say 120 overs, to set the first innings total and then the match would progress normally from there on with no restrictions on the amount of time per innings beyond the 4 days of course.
I wonder if this approach would generate more interest in the game? Or create a new way of playing, if a team does not fulfil their set overs for instance the game would continue as normal. I think that this would promote some of the skills of test cricket that are seemingly lacking at the moment such as solid defensive play and grinding out an innings.
I also think that this approach would lead to an exciting start to the game with teams learning to play an attacking brand of cricket for the first innings (that must be declared) in order to set up a match winning start to the game.
I acknowledge that the whole concept needs more thought, how many overs before the mandatory declaration for instance? or should both first innings be subject to a mandatory declaration? but at the same time I think it might create an interesting angle on the longer form of the game which I do not believe is in the best of health at this current time.
Let me know what you think or any changes you would suggest, or if you think it is a bad idea at least tell us/me why you think that,
I look forward to your responses,
new guy Empireofdoom