The cricket may have been exciting (36 wickets falling) for some, but what about the paying public, who were expecting to watch five days of Test cricket
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The Ashes is considered the greatest and most enduring rivalry in Test cricket. But only one of the four Tests held so far in this season’s edition has lasted five days. Two Tests — the opening game at Perth and more recently, Melbourne — ended in two days. The cricket may have been exciting (36 wickets falling) for some, but what about the paying public, who were expecting to watch five days of Test cricket?
One’s heart goes out to the spectators at Perth and Melbourne. Australia and England are known for taking the lead in innovation and ideating. But the bottom line here is that there was no one-day fixture to compensate for the deplorable early finish, caused by a poor Melbourne pitch that deserves some serious condemnation.
In 1971, when the Melbourne Test of the 1970-71 Ashes was ruined by rain, the authorities organised a 40-overs game between England and Australia. That was the start of one-day international cricket. The cricketing bosses wouldn’t break new ground in that sense here, but the public would have been less distraught from the two-day Test farce. If one argues that player safety had to be considered, could the curator have made it less pace-oriented? If that too wouldn’t negate the threat then we must accept it. But if reasons for not hosting a consolation match centred around logistics and the refusal of teams to play, then it reflects poorly on organisation skills for Reason One and insensitivity for Reason Two. This was not a three-day finish, which isn’t rare. It was a two-day end that ruined THE cricket event of the year Down Under. An exception could have been made.
Australia and England haven’t missed a chance to point fingers when sub-continental countries have not come up to expectations in terms of organisation. This time fingers must point towards Down Under.
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