How many Tests is the Right number for a series?

[JASON]

Here's another poll on what number of Tests is the right number for a series between non-minnow Test nations. The Recent Test series between NZ and SL ended 1-1 because the 3rd Test had been gotten rid of to play 2 x twenty 20 internationals.

To me a 5 Test series can get boring and dreadfully one sided (as the Ashes has ) and too many for my liking , particularly in a dead rubber situation (as in the case of the Ashes). A 4 Test series seems the right number, as it is sure to break any deadlock or weather intervention related skewed results to series.
If after a 4 Test series teams end up 1-1 or 2-2 , to me the 2 teams deserve to share the series .
What are your opinions.

 

[AussieDominance]

i like the traditional 3 and 5 match series but I can see the case for 4 match series if you have 3 match series you could have 4 series a year, If you had 4 Match Series you could have 3 series a year and if you had 5 Match Series you could have at max 2 Test Series a year.

 

[Stumped]

in my opinion the current ashes and 5 series test are no where near boring or even getting boring, i think five is the best number

 

[Stumped]

i like the traditional 3 and 5 match series but I can see the case for 4 match series if you have 3 match series you could have 4 series a year, If you had 4 Match Series you could have 3 series a year and if you had 5 Match Series you could have at max 2 Test Series a year.

makes sense, i like it

 

[Matt79]

5 for me. 3 and 4 test series are a cheat IMO.

 

[Josh]

5's good. Didn't the Ashes series used to be 6 tests??

 

[AussieDominance]

5's good. Didn't the Ashes series used to be 6 tests??

Yeah it used to be 6.

 

[Josh]

Yeah it used to be 6.

Thought so. That was fun.

 

[Lillian Thomson]

5 is the ideal number between evenly matched sides. In England we always try to get two countries in even in Ashes years and you get two pointless Tests against Bangladesh. The previous Ashes Tour we had two Tests against Pakistan which is an insult to Pakistan whom most English cricket lovers want to see on a full tour.

 

[Slow Love™]

For practicality's sake, yeah, I'd go for 4. I could live without the 5 test series - they're good for real epic series, but you don't get that the vast majority of the time. Even numbers don't matter in test cricket, 'cause drawn series are easy enough with 5 anyway - then you have the possibility of two dead rubbers towards the end. Maybe the top two teams at any given moment could play 5 though.

I'm not really fond of three-test series in isolation. But they do work OK if away/home tours are consecutive, ie, South Africa come to Australia for three tests and immediately following, Australia go to SAF and play three over there.

It depends on your interests a bit - the longer the series, the truer an indication you will get of the better side, IMO. Whilst if you go one-down in a three test series, you're back can really be against the wall very quickly, and one weather-affected test from that point may kill you. It might deliver a more even competition though, I dunno. (Australia are winning just about everything at the moment though, so I don't think it would affect their dominance right now.)

Against the minnows, I suppose 2 is appropriate.

 

[Krishna_j]

A 3 test series ends almost before it has begun with this new fangled concept of back to back tests w/o any local 3 day matches in between - a team having loss of form or injuries typically has no chance to recover

- so assuming the sides are evenly contested it should be a 5 test series involving test series in and against India,Pak , Aus , Eng ,and South Africa

Test series in Nz and SL to be 3 tests due to fnancial considerations but outside these could 5 match test series

A Test series involving Bangladesh, WI and Zimbabwe would necessarily be a 3 test match series till these teams show substantial improvement.

 

[LA ICE-E]

5 is too many for a normal series it should be 3 and 5 only when its going to be two competitive teams playing or its a big thing (ie. ashes, ind-pak etc)

 

[cameeel]

A 'regular' series such as Australia v South Africa should be 3 tests imo. But for 'showcase' series' such as the Ashes - and as SL suggested - series' between the two top teams should be 5 tests (If for instance, in the 2011 Frank Worrel Trophy the two top teams were Aus and WI it should be 5 tests, but the 2007 series should be 3)

 

[GIMH]

Depends on the series. When Aus/SAf aren't here, we tend to play 3 Tests against one team, and 4 against another, and I do like that, though as has been said, three Test series are over before they've started.

I think when South Africa next come over, Zimbabwe are due to play 2 Tests earlier on in the summer, which happened in 2003 also. So if we continue to do that, and play Bangladesh in Ashes year, then I'm pretty much happy with the way we schedule our series, except I would like 4 Tests, rather than 3, against India, and the fact that we're playing 7 ODIs against them sickens me, who wants to get beat 7-0 at home?

 

[pasag]

5 are the best, but the three home, three away style like Aus V SA last year was pretty good.

 

[GIMH]

5 are the best, but the three home, three away style like Aus V SA last year was pretty good.

I know it doesn't really matter, but don't you think it would be better if they could come up with a way to make it one official series? Obviously there'd be sponsorship difficulties and such like, but it would be good if we could have 6 match series with home and away legs.

 

[Mister Wright]

4 test series would be ideal imo. However for your showcase series (like the Ashes) you really need to have 5.

 

[Jono]

Its unrealistic to expect all test nations to be able to have 5 test series with each other, even though it'd be great. I mean last year's Ashes and the Eng tour of SA had 5 test series, and were both awesome, but its just not possible.

4 makes most sense.

 

[FaaipDeOiad]

Anything from 3 to 5 is fine IMO. As others have said, I think 5 is good for showcase series, with 3-4 for normal series.

2 is clearly too short and should be done away with IMO. A series where you win one test and can no longer lose the series is just stupid.

 

[Dravid]

A min of 3 every series, no matter who is playing. How will bangladesh improve if they don't play? They already proved they can beat the best of the best, and come close as hell to beat them in the test, so they should get 3 match series too.

For series that have a heated up rivalry or something(India PAK, Aus Eng, Ind Aus) should all be 5 matches

Twenty20 should be taken out for real, its boring. ODI should be limited to 3-5 ODIs apart from tournaments. No need for 7 ODI series