Experomenting on tests

The ICC will not be short of blueprints but its seriousness about altering the five-day format might be tested in the coming months. Here's TOI's
take on a possible new beginning for Tests... This might be a tough ask. If you are a Test cricket buff, set aside, for an instant, the associated sentiments. Forget the indulgent, intellectual delights of absorbing five days of nuanced interplay between bat and ball. The thrill of watching an absorbing draw, the mythology of unforgettable past contests. Forget the wisdom in tampering with the credentials of a classic format. Or the ethics involved in messing with the aura of tradition. Instead, place yourself in the shoes of ICC president David Morgan, and think about what you could do to better market a niche sporting product which currently thrives only on a handful of keen annual contests. As former Test cricketer Arun Lal says, "There is no right or wrong in it. The crowds are simply not coming in for Tests, just for T20. Sadly, Tests are fast becoming unfashionable and tedious for newer generations. If the audience desires change, if broadcasters want change, it is inevitable." Yet, Tests represent the pinnacle of achievement for players and change has its birth pangs. A cult cannot go mainstream without compromising. Morgan's comments on the need for reducing Tests to four-day affairs and making technical upgradations to make night Tests - read prime-time TV slots - a possibility has understandably set off a wave of resentment. Even administrators are generally cagey dwelling on the unknown. The BCCI is less traditional but it's early days yet. Some ex-India players have voiced their opinion against it, and Pakistan's Javed Miandad has said that "T20 is good entertainment and has commercial value but any move to tamper with Tests will prove counter-productive". Cricket Australia is "not initially enthusiastic". The game is steeped in convention but post-Morgan, it won't be easy to squirm out of this particular debate. The ICC's ideas, too, are far from being fleshed out. So will four-day Tests indeed become workable reality? Faster, more result-oriented, more viewer friendly, less indolent, yet true to the broad theatrical panorama of the original? Is it at all possible? The first casualty has to be the draw, although Tests have become more result-oriented than anyone would have guessed: Since the last 10 years, only 24.95% of Tests have been drawn, out of a staggering 465 matches. Since 2000, 75.68% Tests have produced results. Between 1990 and '99, the corresponding figure was 64.27%. Of the 17 matches played so far in 2009, though, 47.06% have been drawn. So where does one draw the line? "Scoring rates have gone up anyway and no one wants to bat for three days anymore. But I think draws can be dispensed with," says one-time Test opener and Delhi and Knight Riders' Aakash Chopra, who revels in the longer formats. "Only about 2% draws are memorable. The public needs results." But simply reducing the duration from 5 days to 4 won't reduce draws: most first-class matches are four-day affairs and most are dull draws. This is what Morgan doesn't mention. Clearly, it needs to be a limited-overs affair because it will be impossible to alter all known Test-match pitches so dramatically in favour of the bowler. "You can be penalised for slow over rates but you can't be penalised for slow scoring. It would be impossible to stipulate," says Chopra. The better idea would be a cap on overs. Here's our simple proposal: A maximum of 80 overs per side per innings, ensuring an innings is completed in a day. If the side batting last (on Day 4) fails to chase down the target, it loses. If the batting side is bowled out in less than 80 overs, their remaining quota would be added on to the opposition's share of overs as a bonus. For e.g., if Side A is bowled out in their first innings in 60 overs, then Side B will face a maximum of 100 (80+20) overs when it's their turn to bat. Here, too, the ICC and hosting associations will need to improve the quality of some pitches. Substandard or underdone tracks need to be phased out. Unless that is done, the toss will become vital as no team will want to bat last on a wearing pitch. Will the ICC penalise grounds which don't live up to these 'four-day standards'? The same 80-overs-a-side/two-innings-each scenario could be ideal for night cricket too, the moment a workable ball is manufactured. Batting under lights, though, will introduce a whole new element and fresh debate. The number of sessions a day could be reduced to two, with a longer break in between. In an idea borrowed from golf, matches could be compulsorily scheduled so the last two days fall on weekends, to pull in more crowds. Maybe, such 4-day Tests could even be trialled among weaker, 'second-tier' teams first. Undoubtedly, many more interesting ideas will crop up as the ICC pushes to make it a reality. "It's bound to happen," says Lal, "Earlier there was only one format, so more people watched Tests. Not anymore."

PCB Vs BCCI

KARACHI: Pakistan Cricket Board
has refused to sign the new Future Tours Programme which spans from 2012 to 2020 unless the Indian board revises the
draft. Sources in the PCB confirmed that officials had voiced strong objections at the International Cricket Council meetings held last week in London
when they learnt that the Indian board had not scheduled a single bilateral series with Pakistan in their proposed draft of the new FTP. "The Indian officials came up with the justification that they couldn't schedule any bilateral series with Pakistan because of the existing relations between the two countries," one source said. "The Indian representative also made it clear that Pakistan should not raise a hue and cry over the proposed FTP since whenever relations between Pakistan and India improved the Indian board would find windows for bilateral series," he said. The source said Pakistan had rejected BCCI's viewpoint and said since the FTP was being prepared well in advance how could the Indian board decide prematurely not to schedule any bilateral series with its neighbour. The Pakistani representatives had made it clear at the meeting that they would not sign the FTP if the BCCI did not revise the draft. The ICC has asked all member countries to submit draft proposals for the next FTP which involves all Test playing nations. Sources said India had also ignored Bangladesh in preparing the draft FTP and is pushing for a two-tier Test championship system
He also said that PCB was already upset with BCCI's attitude over the 2011 World Cup hosting right issue. "Representatives from several countries have privately told PCB Chairman Ejaz Butt they sympathise with Pakistan and would like to accept its proposal of hosting
the 2011 World Cup matches at neutral venues but they can't go against India which want no matches being hosted by Pakistan at home or at neutral venues," the source disclosed.

Test on Tests

LONDON: Looking to maintain the pre-eminence of Test cricket, the sport's governing body has paved the way for a day-nighter trial next year and
approved the use of video referrals in the five-day format. The International Cricket Council cast aside concerns that the authority of on-field match officials will be undermined, and will allow the batsman and fielding captain to refer decisions to the television official from October. They will be limited to two unsuccessful referrals per innings. On Thursday, the ICC Board will discuss the possibility of 2011 World Cup games being held again in Pakistan, along with Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka. Co-hosting rights were stripped from Pakistan in April due to security fears in the wake of an attack on the Sri Lankan team by gunmen in Lahore. The first day of the ICC meetings in London said that a barrier to day-night Tests was finding a suitable replacement for the traditional red ball that is clearly visible under lights. It will wait for the results of an experiment in first-class cricket before taking a decision early in 2010 on an international trial later in the year. But former Australia wicketkeeper-batsman Adam Gilchrist, who played in such trials in the mid-1990s using fluorescent orange balls, said it created an "unfair contest". "Test cricket should be tampered with as little as is possible," Gilchrist said. "Its rules, customs and playing conditions, like Major League Baseball, should remain as close to how it has been played for the past 130 years. "Many of cricket's innovations should be applied only in the shorter forms of the game. This not only includes the expanded umpire referral system, but especially the mooted introduction of night Test cricket and a different colored ball needed to accommodate this." The main problem for Gilchrist playing for the Sheffield Shield in Australia was the imbalance in the matches. "Often it made for an unfair contest, especially when batting, which always seemed much more difficult late in the evening than earlier in the afternoon," he said. Retractable lights have recently been installed at Lord's to cater for night cricket, but the chances of the venue hosting the game will depend on the success of any trial. The ICC Board also agreed on Wednesday that captains of sides who are fined three times for slow-over rates in a year will be banned for one match in that format. Only umpires, not batsman, can decide when play should be suspended for bad light when conditions are "unreasonable or dangerous," rather than merely "unsuitable" as is currently the rule.

Razzaq Returns in National Colors

The ICC has approved the PCB's request to add Abdul Razzaq to replace one of its two injured players in the ongoing ICC World Twenty20. This makes Razzaq the first former ICL player returning to international cricket after being banned.
Ijaz Butt, the PCB chairman, had told Cricinfo that a request had been sent to the ICC's technical committee. "He is an allrounder and we've requested he replace Arafat, who is also an allrounder." A source close to the player also confirmed that Razzaq had been contacted by the board and apprised of the situation.
On the same day ICC chief executive Haroon Lorgat confirmed the decision. "The PCB has advised the ICC it has imposed a sanction on Abdul Razzaq in accordance with the ICC Board resolution," he said.
While both Yasir Arafat and Sohail Tanvir are carrying injuries, Arafat's hamstring strain seems the more serious and Razzaq represented a like-for-like change in that he is an allrounder.
The Pakistan team manager, Yawar Saeed, said Arafat had been diagnosed with a lateral hamstring tear and would not play any further role in the tournament. News of Tanvir, who played with a back strain in the victory against Netherland yesterday, was better - he was back training with the rest of the squad at The Oval today.
Razzaq was one of several ex-ICL players granted amnesty by the PCB a few weeks back, shortly after the Indian board set the ball rolling for players to come in from the unofficial league. Other boards followed suit; some set a 'cooling off' period in place, while others like the PCB said they would handle each player on a case-by-case basis.
Ironically, Razzaq's name was on the original list of 30 probables the PCB had sent to the ICC in early April - before the BCCI announced the amnesty - but the board u-turned and scratched his name off because the ICC objected to his ICL status. And with more irony, the comeback completes a full circle of sorts for Razzaq: it was only after being overlooked for the 2007 World Twenty20 squad that he decided to turn his back on Pakistan cricket. He lambasted the team's set-up at the time, claiming he had been treated badly and then retired from international cricket, before taking back his announcement.
Pakistan will welcome back Razzaq's skills. He was one of the ICL's most valuable players, leading his franchise Hyderabad Heroes to the title in the first season and a runners-up spot the second time round. His form in the recently-concluded domestic Twenty20 was outstanding as well and limited-overs competitions in England hold special memories. It was in the 1999 World Cup that Razzaq first announced himself as a major talent, picking up a bundle of wickets and scoring some crucial runs, often at one down.

World Cup 2011

This post is the central idea of What were the real reasons that Pakistan was excluded from the World Cup Hosting teams and switching the matches to India.Is it a game,conspiracy or a right decision