Triangular series - the way ahead for Test Cricket?

The last time this was experimented in was in 1912, before the advent of television and internet or even floodlights and before there was money pouring into cricket. The Triangular Test Series played between England, Australia and South Africa, with England winning the series was largely deemed a failure owing to the highly uncompetitive matches and failure to draw crowds, partly due to a much weaker Australian side.

However, right now the talk amongst the cricketing fraternity does seem to be inculcating an interest in test cricket, how to solve the problem of declining viewership, lack of crowds and sometimes, players’ lack of interest (for instance – Lasith Malinga retired from Test Cricket to focus more on being a T20 mercenary).  Many believe that the day night test could bring back the charm of test cricket, including former England captain Andrew Strauss, who said the format could keep the format ‘alive and vibrant’.

So far, ICC has announced their intentions to host a World Test Championship and repeatedly, as the date draws nearer, the tournament gets cancelled, for some reason or the other (financial problems is the norm), both in 2013 and 2017 and instead, back in 2013, a redundant ODI tournament was revived. The 20 over format needed a world tournament, it had one, the fifty over version already had it, since the 70s and there was no point in carrying on another 50 over tournament.

However, 2013 had the revival and considering it was India who won, there was a lot of interest generated in the tournament and thus, the Champions Trophy lingering on became imminent. On the other hand, the chance of a World Test Championship has also become bleak; while the stands remain largely empty during the early hours even on countries. This is not a phenomenon restricted to nations where there are other popular sports such as England, Australia or New Zealand, but also in countries where cricket is the primary sport such as Sri Lanka and India.

Constraints of a World Test Championship

Format

The format and the manner of conducting a World Test Championship has been largely undecided, if there is to be some sort of a round robin with each side playing everyone else at least once, there are twelve test playing nations at present (including Ireland and Afghanistan); the number of matches come to a staggering 66 – meaning a minimum of 330 days; a tournament going for a whole year. There could be leagues or others worked out but the duration is always going to be a constraint.

At present, the proposal seems to be that the top four sides over a four year period will play a tournament but that is something that has not yet been tested and the present situation seems to be that the tournament scheduled for the year 2021 also stands cancelled.

Thus, it is evident that it is difficult to decide on a format that would be interesting and also be good on the time factor.

T20 Leagues

With T20 leagues throughout the year at some part of the world and a lot of players turning out to prefer the lucrative deals over playing test cricket, working around the leagues for a schedule would be very difficult or; the latter is an even more difficult task of retaining the key players. It so happens that most nations have stopped scheduling bilateral series during the time of the Indian Premier League these days, let alone a World Test Championship.

No guaranteed success

There is no guarantee that this experiment could be a success, perhaps it could be a repeat of 1912 and considering that this would be marketed at such a massive scale should such a tournament be scheduled, a flop show would be a disaster for test cricket as a whole and its failure could even mark the beginning of the end. Thus, one has to thoroughly research viewer interest before taking such a decision.

Thus, it seems very evident that at the moment, a World Test Championship has a lot of problems, however, an idea that has not been tried, since 1912 has been a triangular test series and sometimes, adding more diversity to a series could help.

For instance, the upcoming West Indies versus England series seems to be a huge quality mismatch, but at the same time, an experience of playing against a top side is perhaps what the young Caribbean sides need; but the cost of that experience is going to be one sided matches and total lack of interest from the viewers. The same could be said of the recently concluded series between Sri Lanka and India wherein there wasn’t much of a competition between the two sides though this experience could help the Lankan side in the future.

So, to add some flavour to these sort of series, the 1912 experiment could be revived, wherein three test sides play a series, even if we have a simple format where each team plays each other once – and the best two would reach the final – it comes to a total of just four tests, which is similar to most bilateral series. Of course, there is the issue of determining the best two, especially when there is a possibility of matches going for a draw (especially in the final); in which case the entire debate of whether a points system should be in place comes in but I believe this is something easier to come to a consensus to, than a World Test Championship.

A World Test Championship is of course a great idea and if pulled off well, it would be a feather in the cap for the glory of test cricket but at present, it is a lot more pragmatic to go for it step by step. Australia have often conducted tri-series, I hope in future, some cricket board takes up the idea of a triangular test series.

Just to conclude, had it been a triangular series, with a side like South Africa (who had just toured England) along with West Indies, the press would not have declared England as the winners of the series, even before the same was conducted. 

Have a nice day,

Andy

The Enigmatic Friendships

Amidst the numerous social interactions that we, as humans, have in our world, filled with the social media giants which govern our daily lives in ways that aren’t by any stretch of the imagination, infinitesimal, I often end up thinking about the people we term as friends. Due to the distances connected by the social media, people who otherwise wouldn’t have interacted, are now available in the list of friends of a varied demographic. It’s a fun and interesting place to be.

I am not an active participant in social media. I rarely interact with people outside the group which is familiar to me. Being the person that I am, I prefer cultivating friendships that last a lifetime. The fleeting interactions that lead to someone becoming a friend, create acquaintances. A friend to me, holds a much deeper meaning. A friend to me, is a person who makes a person better in all respects. Amongst the few friends that I have, I am certain that all of them know me, my thoughts, my capabilities (or lack thereof), and so on. I know I can go to them with anything I want and not be judged for what I ask or say. These friends, and the friendships they have granted me, would perhaps, last till the times where both parties stop remembering anything.

Friendships are analogous to the life cycle of a tree. Akin to these marvels in nature, friendships have a rugged exterior, malleable interiors and branch out to very finite spaces wherein all the branches are distinct, intriguing in their own accord and is overall, integral to the subsistence of the ecosystem that is a human being. I have observed the parallel tracks a tree takes in its lifetime that that friendships take in theirs.

To elaborate, the various seeds that scatter upon the ground, intentionally or unintentionally, are like the boundless interactions we humans have amongst each other. Not all conversations take root into the tree of friendship. The people indulging in what we tell them, find the right nourishment for their friendship to take roots. The symphony between the waves of thoughts expressed and received becomes apparent, enough to water the tree and beget the once dormant life within. Thereafter, what happens is a natural progression. We converse, exchange thoughts, debate, argue, participate in moments that get etched upon our minds, irreplaceable and irremovable, walk together on the path one wouldn’t otherwise have traveled had it not been for a friend, and other such events, activities and moments that imbibe the tree with vigor and strength it needs to take on the natural forces that oppose its growth.

Like the many friendships a person has in life, many are uprooted; many stand; but the most valuable ones flourish under the most distressful conditions, paying no heed to the forces on the mission to uproot them. Such friendships absorb the best made available to them, filtering out the poisons lurking in the soil, air and water that surround them. Each moment in time that is spent with such friends branches out from the tree, takes its place amongst the many unique branches forming the overall edifice, tall and magnificent. This is the defining stage of any friendship; the stage that determines whether it would inhale the poison and form a contagion, wither away and die, or use the more sentient moments to form branches from branches till such time that it is thick enough to combat and force of nature.

Once the veritable tree has grown to the fullest extent it is permitted to grow, the point comes where the friendships we strived to grow, mature. Thereon, there isn’t a force, available in our everyday lives, which can erode away the friendship. The tree no longer needs water from us as the roots are deep enough to make it self-sufficient. It would have a near unlimited reservoir of nutrients through the endless experiences we have shared.

I am not one to say the tree cannot be shaken or moved. It very well can be. We all can be a handful if we want to be. Others would simply brand us with a term, perhaps derogatory, perhaps uninviting or perhaps distasteful. However, these friends, and their friendships, forged through the trials and tribulations of life, never give up on us. I have known this to be the case with mine. I have stretched them to their limits, infested our conversations with my incessant ranting, fought over trivial matters which would appear highly nonsensical to a witness, and what not. They however, have looked beyond these failings of mine, knowing that that tree that we worked so hard to grow, wouldn’t even budge on such things. These minor incidents have only served to prove that to a true friendship, these incidents would hardly ruffle through the leaves, get resisted by the foliage, and die out as if it never existed. Even if one arose, that could break a branch, a new one would form in its place as the tree is alive and well.

I cherish my friendships and all events and incidents entailed within. These are the people who have made me who I am, shaped a greater part of my life, and nurtured me with humanity. I might have turned out a lesser human than I am now, if not for people such as them. Everyone has friends, who if thought about, would be a parts of your trees, or whole trees themselves. The thought that inspired me to write this was that each person has their own trees, and yet don’t realise that these trees have matured into unshakable friendships. Misunderstandings are easily sorted, however heavy they may seem when they happen.