With the rankings chopping and changing regularly, it would be preferable to decide the No 1 Test team by playing a dedicated series of matches, writes Aussie great Ian Chappell
Australia’s cricket captain Steven Smith (left) receives the International Cricket Council Test Championship mace from ICC chief executive David Richardson in Kandy last July. PIC/AFP
Test cricket is experiencing a period of unpredictability that was missing from the game for many years. For more than two decades, first the West Indies and then Australia dominated the Test rankings; now it’s anyone’s guess who’ll be on top from one week to the next.
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At one point during the concurrent England v Pakistan, Australia v Sri Lanka and India v West Indies Test series, it was possible for any one of four teams to head the rankings. In the end it was a surprisingly resilient Pakistan who grabbed the honour.
It’s definitely better for Test cricket to have the current situation where many teams are vying for top ranking. During the period the West Indies and then Australia dominated, many series suffered from being predictable and while some of the cricket was of a high standard, much of it was one-sided.
People often complained to me that West Indies’ matches were boring. As I explained; “It’s hard to have batting diversity if there’s no variety in the bowling.”
Their four-man pace attack was highly effective under all conditions but it didn’t leave much room for a batsman’s imagination.
At least during the West Indies reign there was occasionally some spirited opposition, with a feisty Pakistan, lead by the redoubtable Imran Khan, pushing the Windies to the limit. Australia’s extended period of dominance caused the administrators such consternation that they came up with the ill-conceived plan for a one-off match against a World X1. This became a complete farce when the 2005 Test was classed as official.
During their period of domination, both the West Indies and Australia produced teams of such high quality that a couple of them would have to rank in the top ten of all time. The current standard is well off that pace but the likelihood of upset victories and quick changes of fortune partly compensates for the slippage in skill level.
The decline in standard is partly responsible for the regular failure of teams when they travel overseas. The ratio of away Test wins, except in the case of tours to the Caribbean, Bangladesh and Zimbabwe, is extremely low.
Much of the blame for these overseas failures can be sheeted home to batsmen struggling in foreign conditions. This is hard to fathom when players tour more regularly than in the past, whether it be with a national team or as a T 20 entrepreneur. However, it is more difficult for young players to acclimatise to overseas conditions, as there’s generally very few tour matches before a Test series commences.
Computer rankings have never been a satisfactory method of judging teams but during the reign of both the West Indies and Australia, you didn’t need an Apple Mac to know who was number one. Now, with the rankings chopping and changing regularly, it would be preferable to decide the Test Champions by playing a dedicated series of matches.
Such a championship has been discussed for nearly three decades and there’s already been one false start. Hopefully, with plans being discussed to rationalise the cricket schedule, the second coming of the World Test Championship will eventuate.
In the eventuation of a Test Championship, the ICC must ensure it doesn’t become a farce with home town pitches being prepared. A home town final could result in a pitch that produces either a one-sided contest or a boring batathon, whereby a drawn match will win the Championship by default.
Many Australian Sheffield Shield finals have degenerated into the latter category with the home team only needing to draw to confirm it’s place at the top table.
The suggestion that Lord’s be a permanent home for the final is a good one, as this should provide a fair surface and the chance of crowds worthy of such an occasion.
The ingredients are in place for a worthwhile Test World Championship with so many teams staking a claim. It’s up to the administrators to make sure this much-needed promotion of Test cricket doesn’t become yet another spilled chance.
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