Almanac Cricket: Tests, T20s and that tall, slim bloke with the graphs and diagrams

Tests v T20

 

T20 cricket. It is the modern game. There’s been a bit of T20 cricket lately. First the Women’s BBL (59 matches by my count) then the Men’s T20 World Cup (45 matches). A couple of the minnows experienced success, there was a huge crowd for the India v Pakistan match and then England, yes England, belted their way to win the ultimate prize.

 

Now we have the Men’s Big Bash League that didn’t even have the decency to wait until the Test series had finished. 25 matches and we’re not yet half-way.

 

Is Test cricket on life support?

 

Maybe.

 

Particularly when the Brisbane Test did it’s best to resemble a T20 match. So too the evening session in Adelaide with the decibel enhanced muzak blasts and aural exhortations from the ground announcer. The powers-that-be were obviously of the opinion that the populace were hard of hearing or needed ‘entertaining’ between overs.

 

Big Bash cricket. Two hat-tricks so far. Bowler guile or senseless slogging?

 

In recent articles, two respected journalists (Lalor, Craddock) mentioned the mindless, forgettable nature of the shorter form. On the other hand, on ABC radio, I heard Harsha Bhogle waxing lyrical about the skills of players in IPL matches performed in front of enormous crowds. In a recent Zoom interview, Barry Richards (South Africa, Hampshire, South Australia, Prospect DCC) mentioned an IPL launch into the USA market.

 

So is Test cricket on life support?

Good crowds in Adelaide and Melbourne. Paltry in Perth. Over 40,000 at the New Year’s Eve Bash in Adelaide with merchandise flying off the shelves. Mind you, there were plenty of kids scrambling for mini-bat autographs from the players at the Adelaide Test. They will not have missed Travis Head’s exquisite cover drives, or that over by Boland or Carey’s neat keeping.

 

The modern era. The chess game of five day cricket versus the knock ‘em down, over in an instant T20.

 

Celebrating the ton.

‘The game is not the same’, said McGilvray. Quite right. Nor should it be. Things have changed. This was reinforced in a New Year’s day opinion piece by noted political journalist Mark Kenny (ex Blackwood High, SA thus possibly a Sturt supporter). Kenny compared the reaction of Rod Marsh with those of David Warner and Alex Carey on reaching a century. In the 1977 Centenary Test, Marsh’s celebration ‘extended to a reluctant wave of his bat to say thank you for the applause’ while in the 2022 Boxing Day Test, ‘Warner’s ebullient celebration and to a lesser extent Carey’s, were de rigueur’ and ‘completely unremarkable in the modern era’. After his on-field ebullience on achieving his double century Warner required resuscitation.

 

The commentary.

And in similar manner, the commentary box. The historic sounds of the ‘synthetic’ Test broadcasts are heard in the ABC’s current Everlasting Summer podcast along with the statement from ABC broadcasting legend Jim Maxwell that former bowlers make better commentators than batters because ‘bowlers have to think more than batters’. Kim Hughes was not mentioned. The arrival of female commentators has also added an extra thoughtful dimension.

 

Compare the descriptions and analysis from the likes of Kristen Beams or Alison Mitchell with the Channel 7 TV broadcast where: Blewey makes an earnest, meaningful comment in agreement with Flem who is in awe of the astuteness of Punter but doesn’t really want to talk about Warney while over on the edge of the couch Brayshaw waits for someone to address him by his self-adorned moniker JB which he thinks is so endearing and always makes him feel like one of the boys just like Haydos who always goes into bat for his little mate JL who has just joined the team to add gravitas while not mentioning any of the things he apparently recently said about some of the players concerning that period when the wheels were falling off during the latter stages of his heady days in Boof’s seat as coach and anyway he clarified that didn’t he Kat or was it Huss so let’s ask sensible Tim Lane if he can understand any of that tall, slim bloke’s graphs, diagrams and coloured virtual arrows that may or may not show that the batter was in trouble or that the delivery was deserving of being dispatched into the middle distance but who knows because the spider cam has just wiped out three fielders and an umpire and lies in a mangled heap on the turf. Meanwhile, Alison Mitchell rises serenely above it all. ‘I wish I was doing this when Richie was about the place’, she thinks wistfully as she heads towards the ABC broadcast box for a chat with Jim.

 

Oh, and before I forget, here are the Big Bash Scores.

Stars easily beat Hurricanes who then just beat Scorchers who defeated Sixers by the same amount that Stars beat Hurricanes but then Sixers beat Renegades by four runs less than Stars beat Hurricanes and Scorchers beat Sixers and then Renegades were fortunate to just defeat the unlucky Heat with four balls to spare however the luck turned for Heat who fell in by six runs against the fancied Strikers who absolutely demolished the hapless Thunder who could only manage a paltry 15 runs – yes 15 runs – even though Thunder had beaten the Stars by one wicket in the very first game of this seemingly never ending season in which the Stars easily beat the Hurricanes who…

 

I note recent additions to the Myriad of Big Bash By-Laws
Addendum 256:
Precious seconds wasted glaring at umpires will not be considered as part of timed-out decisions.
Addendum 257:
Potential catches taken by fielders who are judged to be over the ropes and 10 rows back will be subjected to degree-of-difficulty scrutiny by the TDJU (Tap Dancers and Jugglers Union).

 

 

 

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