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If you could change one thing about international cricket...
- Thread starter Armadillo
- Start date
SJS
Hall of Fame Member
Yes there were.Dasa said:
South Africa's first five test series from 1888-89 to 1902-3 , 11 tests in all were all 3 day affairs. Ten of these matches had a result !
Same with India's first ever test in 1932 which also had a result !
West Indies first ever series in 1928. All three matches ended in results !
Thats fifteen 3-day test matches with just one draw !!
Last edited:
SJS
Hall of Fame Member
Then there was NZland who played the first test in 1929-30 and played 3 day tests for over 20 years till 1950-51 when they played their first 4 day test.
Of the 20 3 day tests they played, however, only 6 ended in results though a couple were almost completely washed out.
By the way, aside from what we are discussing on this thread, one could say that maybe ICC should restart the practice of playing only 3 day games with the minnows and then they should graduate to the four day test before finally showing that they are good enough for a five day test match.
Of the 20 3 day tests they played, however, only 6 ended in results though a couple were almost completely washed out.
By the way, aside from what we are discussing on this thread, one could say that maybe ICC should restart the practice of playing only 3 day games with the minnows and then they should graduate to the four day test before finally showing that they are good enough for a five day test match.
England also played only 3-day tests for the first 30-40 years, ending it in the 1920´s, I think, after a particularly rain-interrupted ashes series.
It then went to 4 and quickly on to 5 and it was almost 6, though it was decided it had to stop and stay on 5 but still the number of draws increased.
Basically pitches ruined the game from around the 1920´s onward it seems to me.
There were probably more drawn 5-day games in the 1960´s than drawn 3-day games in 1900.
Last years ashes was a real throwback to that golden age,almost a century ago as it was probably the highest run rate for a century and also the shortest average match duration for a century.
It shows how great the game was back then,no wonder it was bigger than football, before it became endless boring wars of attrition.
Needless to say that, in my opinion, by the biggest issue facing cricket must be getting the pitches right.
It then went to 4 and quickly on to 5 and it was almost 6, though it was decided it had to stop and stay on 5 but still the number of draws increased.
Basically pitches ruined the game from around the 1920´s onward it seems to me.
There were probably more drawn 5-day games in the 1960´s than drawn 3-day games in 1900.
Last years ashes was a real throwback to that golden age,almost a century ago as it was probably the highest run rate for a century and also the shortest average match duration for a century.
It shows how great the game was back then,no wonder it was bigger than football, before it became endless boring wars of attrition.
Needless to say that, in my opinion, by the biggest issue facing cricket must be getting the pitches right.
Tom Halsey
International Coach
Personally, I think a 5 day Test should last 5 days. Personally, I don't think there was too much wrong with 20s and 30s pitches - yes, they were flat, but considering they were uncovered there were still plenty of bowler friendly tracks per season.
It obviously got far worse later, such as the 60´s where it seems some games could have 5 full days of play without finishing the first innings.
But even in the 30´s there were things like England scoring 900+ runs and it was a big issue then as it was in those days that were lots of tampering with the format, where over a period of around 20 years, ashes tests were played both as 3,4,5,6 day games as well as timeless.
Bradman thought the discussion about days wrong as it should be about pitches. He wrote that if the pitch is right, any cricket match would come naturally to a conclusion within 4 days.
But even in the 30´s there were things like England scoring 900+ runs and it was a big issue then as it was in those days that were lots of tampering with the format, where over a period of around 20 years, ashes tests were played both as 3,4,5,6 day games as well as timeless.
Bradman thought the discussion about days wrong as it should be about pitches. He wrote that if the pitch is right, any cricket match would come naturally to a conclusion within 4 days.
Richard
Cricket Web Staff Member
30s pitches were flat, sure, but 20s? Have you seen some of the horror-tracks that decade threw-up?Tom Halsey said:
(Probably not, because there was very little newsreel coverage as compared to the 30s)
The first five-day Tests in England were in the 1950s - can't remember which year exactly. Before that it was generally 4-day games as standard with a timeless game as the last game of a series if the series was still open. IIRR in Australia many games from the early 1900s to WWII were timeless.
In the 1900s, 1910s and 1920s, 3-day Tests were still plenty often long enough to get results, because pitches (in England, at least - perhaps a little less so in Australia and South Africa) in those days offered plenty to seam and spin. Most would these days be considered poor, unfit and sometimes even dangerous. Rain, of course, sometimes made them even worse.
Not totally sure when the move from 3-day standard to 4-day standard was.