Something must be done to protect the future of Test cricket before it is too late, says Rebecca Duffy of the Testing Times campaign.
We are campaigning for the preservation and protection of Test and first-class cricket around the world. Our aims are to show the various international cricketing boards that there is still a need and a desire for the longer form of the game and that its support is as passionate, vociferous and numerous as that of limited-overs cricket.
We are not anti limited-overs cricket. What we are against is limited-overs cricket at the expense of Test cricket and we are becoming increasingly concerned at the ICC’s dismissive attitude towards Tests. It appears that the longest form of cricket is being eschewed in favour of the more commercially viable one-day internationals and Twenty20 formats.
Testing Times is a campaign dreamt up and instigated by genuine cricket lovers with a shared concern about the future of the great game of Test cricket, and brought together by James Corrigan who created a Facebook page called Forward Point – a forum in which the 65 members of all ages, male and female, could discuss cricket to their hearts’ content.
The Testing Times movement was launched at the end of October when members of Forward Point became embroiled in a heated debate about England’s summer 2012 schedule on the Official England Cricket page. Frustrated and annoyed that such a seismic clash between England and South Africa – numbers one and two in the ICC’s world Test rankings – was deemed worthy of just three Tests, our thoughts turned to action.
Andrew Strauss had made comments in The Times just days before about his fears for Test cricket and it seemed that if we were to act, the time was now. A Facebook page was created for Testing Times, followed by a Twitter account and in less than 12 hours, we found that we had over 700 followers! The administrators of the page – James, Lawrence Epps, Mat Richards, Libby Leonard, Andrew Miles and myself – were the initial driving force of the campaign but many other members of Forward Point did, and continue to do, valuable work in promoting Testing Times, especially on Twitter.
Spurred on and encouraged by the immediate wealth of support we received from cricket lovers and members of the media, we began to devise firm aims and objectives. The major irritant seemed to be the inclusion of an incongruous five-match ODI series against Australia, the purpose of which was the subject of dark murmurings about commercial viability and television rights. However, after some research we discovered that it was a reciprocal arrangement with Cricket Australia and was unlikely to be shelved.
We were also originally quite keen to take on the ICC straight away to demand a greater focus on Test cricket globally, but felt that we needed to start closer to home and not aim too high too quickly. However, we wanted to make a strong point so we returned to the issue of scheduling for the English summer. Five Tests, we felt, was what such a series deserved, but given that we need to be realistic – and taking into account the Olympics – we decided that four Tests was a more achievable goal.
We set about working on a new, proposed schedule to improve upon the official one, and found that by reducing the ODI series from five matches to three, we could add another Test with a maximum of just an extra three days of cricket involved for the players. The other issue was the odd scheduling of a one-off ODI v Scotland right in the middle of the Test series. We felt that this was disrespectful to both Scotland and South Africa and a tough ask for England, so we rearranged that for after the Test series as a warm up for the ODI series.
What we ultimately want is for the ICC to stop eroding the importance of Tests by shortening key Test series in order to fit in more limited-overs internationals. We feel that ODIs and Twenty20s should be included as a part of a tour and not as its centrepiece, and certainly not as a tour in their own right.
If we continue to see series made up solely of limited-overs internationals, such as the recent one between India and England and that between England and Australia scheduled for next summer, there is a real danger that this trend will grow and grow until before we know it, Test cricket will become a charmingly amusing anachronism and pyjamas will rule the cricketing world.
In this world, matches like those unbelievable Ashes clashes at Headingley in 1981 and at Edgbaston in 2005, the famous tied Test at Brisbane in 1960, India’s astonishing comeback against Australia at Kolkata in 2001, will be consigned simply to the annals of history, the like of which will never be witnessed again.
To allow that to happen would be doing a great disservice to cricketers and cricket fans of the future which is why we’re asking anyone who cares about Test cricket to join us and try to open the eyes of the cricketing authorities to the fact that there is interest outside the world of brightly coloured clothing, cheerleaders, loud music, over-excitable PA announcers and three-digit strike rates.
If you wish to help, please follow our campaign on Twitter or on Facebook - but most importantly, please sign our petition. We have a huge chance to change attitudes towards Test cricket and we’ve made an amazing start, but we need the continued and passionate support that we know fans of Test cricket have in abundance.
Now is the time to try to stem this tide of avarice and greed and implore the ICC to show some respect to Test cricket and its millions of fans around the world: to try to make them see that while some things can be bought or sold in the never ending frenzy for profits, there are some things that are beyond such baseness; some things in fact, which are timeless, peerless and utterly priceless.
Click here if you would like to sign the Testing Times petition.
Testing Times: Aiming To Protect The Future Of Test Cricket
Something must be done to protect the future of Test cricket before it is too late, says Rebecca Duffy of the Testing Times campaign.
We are campaigning for the preservation and protection of Test and first-class cricket around the world. Our aims are to show the various international cricketing boards that there is still a need and a desire for the longer form of the game and that its support is as passionate, vociferous and numerous as that of limited-overs cricket.
We are not anti limited-overs cricket. What we are against is limited-overs cricket at the expense of Test cricket and we are becoming increasingly concerned at the ICC’s dismissive attitude towards Tests. It appears that the longest form of cricket is being eschewed in favour of the more commercially viable one-day internationals and Twenty20 formats.
Testing Times is a campaign dreamt up and instigated by genuine cricket lovers with a shared concern about the future of the great game of Test cricket, and brought together by James Corrigan who created a Facebook page called Forward Point – a forum in which the 65 members of all ages, male and female, could discuss cricket to their hearts’ content.
The Testing Times movement was launched at the end of October when members of Forward Point became embroiled in a heated debate about England’s summer 2012 schedule on the Official England Cricket page. Frustrated and annoyed that such a seismic clash between England and South Africa – numbers one and two in the ICC’s world Test rankings – was deemed worthy of just three Tests, our thoughts turned to action.
Andrew Strauss had made comments in The Times just days before about his fears for Test cricket and it seemed that if we were to act, the time was now. A Facebook page was created for Testing Times, followed by a Twitter account and in less than 12 hours, we found that we had over 700 followers! The administrators of the page – James, Lawrence Epps, Mat Richards, Libby Leonard, Andrew Miles and myself – were the initial driving force of the campaign but many other members of Forward Point did, and continue to do, valuable work in promoting Testing Times, especially on Twitter.
Spurred on and encouraged by the immediate wealth of support we received from cricket lovers and members of the media, we began to devise firm aims and objectives. The major irritant seemed to be the inclusion of an incongruous five-match ODI series against Australia, the purpose of which was the subject of dark murmurings about commercial viability and television rights. However, after some research we discovered that it was a reciprocal arrangement with Cricket Australia and was unlikely to be shelved.
We were also originally quite keen to take on the ICC straight away to demand a greater focus on Test cricket globally, but felt that we needed to start closer to home and not aim too high too quickly. However, we wanted to make a strong point so we returned to the issue of scheduling for the English summer. Five Tests, we felt, was what such a series deserved, but given that we need to be realistic – and taking into account the Olympics – we decided that four Tests was a more achievable goal.
We set about working on a new, proposed schedule to improve upon the official one, and found that by reducing the ODI series from five matches to three, we could add another Test with a maximum of just an extra three days of cricket involved for the players. The other issue was the odd scheduling of a one-off ODI v Scotland right in the middle of the Test series. We felt that this was disrespectful to both Scotland and South Africa and a tough ask for England, so we rearranged that for after the Test series as a warm up for the ODI series.
What we ultimately want is for the ICC to stop eroding the importance of Tests by shortening key Test series in order to fit in more limited-overs internationals. We feel that ODIs and Twenty20s should be included as a part of a tour and not as its centrepiece, and certainly not as a tour in their own right.
If we continue to see series made up solely of limited-overs internationals, such as the recent one between India and England and that between England and Australia scheduled for next summer, there is a real danger that this trend will grow and grow until before we know it, Test cricket will become a charmingly amusing anachronism and pyjamas will rule the cricketing world.
In this world, matches like those unbelievable Ashes clashes at Headingley in 1981 and at Edgbaston in 2005, the famous tied Test at Brisbane in 1960, India’s astonishing comeback against Australia at Kolkata in 2001, will be consigned simply to the annals of history, the like of which will never be witnessed again.
To allow that to happen would be doing a great disservice to cricketers and cricket fans of the future which is why we’re asking anyone who cares about Test cricket to join us and try to open the eyes of the cricketing authorities to the fact that there is interest outside the world of brightly coloured clothing, cheerleaders, loud music, over-excitable PA announcers and three-digit strike rates.
If you wish to help, please follow our campaign on Twitter or on Facebook - but most importantly, please sign our petition. We have a huge chance to change attitudes towards Test cricket and we’ve made an amazing start, but we need the continued and passionate support that we know fans of Test cricket have in abundance.
Now is the time to try to stem this tide of avarice and greed and implore the ICC to show some respect to Test cricket and its millions of fans around the world: to try to make them see that while some things can be bought or sold in the never ending frenzy for profits, there are some things that are beyond such baseness; some things in fact, which are timeless, peerless and utterly priceless.
Click here if you would like to sign the Testing Times petition.