Yes, Test cricket is great, but unless it’s treated as a premium product, it will die

“The West Indies have created the most amazing thing here, in the world of cricket,” Ian Smith bellowed on commentary at the end of the Brisbane Test on Sunday.

Indeed they had. Unheralded, is an understatement, when describing the squad the West Indies were forced to select for the tour to Australia. There were seven uncapped players in the group. Sound familiar? The SA team preparing for the Test series against New Zealand, which starts on Sunday, contains eight uncapped players.

Both the West Indies and the Proteas were forced to dig deep into their respective personnel resources, because players are unavailable due to commitments in T20 leagues. In the Proteas’ case it was a stipulation by Cricket SA that nationally contracted players be available for the SA20 tournament that forced Shukri Conrad to choose the squad he did.

For the West Indies, players such as Jason Holder, Kyle Mayers and Nicholas Pooran, did not sign central contracts with the West Indies Cricket Board, freeing them up to choose where and when they could play. Mayers is part of the Durban Super Giants side in the SA20, while Holder, a former captain and Pooran are in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for the ILT20. Pooran also spent two weeks playing in the SA20.

Such is cricket’s landscape. One now dominated by T20 Leagues. This week alone, three T20 Leagues are taking place; the SA20, the International League T20 in the UAE and Bangladesh Premier League. A week after the SA20 finishes, the Pakistan Super League starts.

Try to make Test cricket the sport’s most important format in that kind of environment?

Yet Test cricket can still serve up days like Sunday, where the West Indies and later England pulled off stunning upsets, playing thrillingly and producing magic moments as Shamar Joseph did in that final innings in Brisbane.

On social media reactions were predictable. “Test cricket proving again why it’s the ultimate in the sport... T20 can only but hope,” wrote Herschelle Gibbs. “Also. I know it’s been said many times in the last 24 hours with the two victories we’ve seen today but, long live Test cricket. You simply don’t get the same emotional ups and downs in any other format. It is unrivalled,” said former England quick Steve Finn.

“Are you not entertained?,” wondered West Indies T20 coach Daren Sammy.

Those opinions are all very fair and all very out of touch. Test cricket is not what they or the many others who took to social media on Sunday, would like it to be. For players it may still be the pinnacle, but for the International Cricker Cpuncil, who supposedly runs the sport and must oversee its growth and in general protect it — including the oldest format — it doesn’t appear to be the case.

Fewer Tests are being played by nations not called England, India or Australia, primarily because Test cricket is a costly endeavour. Some of those costs could be lowered should TV companies make the format the premium one by paying premium prices for Test cricket in the broadcast deals they have with the national boards, but that doesn’t occur.

For the recent India series in SA, a T20 International was valued exactly the same as a Test match — about R150m. Even though a Test can run for five days and a T20 game lasts about four hours.

If Test cricket was so valuable, “the ultimate” — as so many commentators and former players have described it — surely it should be treated as such, most importantly by the broadcasters and the ICC.

Overwhelmingly, however, it is the players like Joseph, Ollie Pope and Tom Hartley who are keeping Test cricket alive.

But even so, cricket’s reality springs to the fore to throttle it. On Tuesday it was confirmed that Joseph was heading to the Pakistan Super League.