The Cricket World Cup is fast approaching. Squads are being selected and plans are being made. Those players lucky enough to make the squad will be aiming to showcase their talents on the biggest stage, to launch themselves into the spotlight, or to have just one last hurrah before the ravages of time take their toll. Players will be gearing themselves up for the ultimate challenge.
Wait, wait, wait. Let me read that back. The ‘ultimate’ challenge? I fail to see how a tournament containing the likes of the Netherlands and Canada can possibly be labeled as the ultimate challenge. The big teams will all walk through their group stages. The presence of these teams completely devalues the tournament. Imagine what a farce it would be if Spain were confronted with Botswana, Papa New Guinea and Uzbekistan in the group stages of the football World Cup. Now I know that only the ‘best’ associate countries have been included but they are still miles behind the Test sides and their inclusion means there will be a lot of meaningless games.
In most sports, winning the World Cup is seen as the greatest achievement. This certainly applies to two of the most popular sports in the world, football and rugby. But is this true of cricket? I’m not so sure. As an England supporter, if you offered me an Ashes win or a World Cup triumph, I would take the Ashes victory every time (if guaranteed at least a respectable showing by the English in the World Cup). I think the reason for this is because I see Test cricket as the most important form of the game, I believe anyone who thinks otherwise is not a true cricket lover.
The truth is, winning the World Cup can never be considered the greatest achievement in cricket purely because it is not played in the greatest form. Consider a football World Cup with games played over 30 minutes and you get the picture. Probably wouldn’t mean as much would it? I can tell you why.
The longer a game is played, in any sport, the more likely it is that the better team will come out on top. This is proved by the much more frequent upsets that occur in Twenty20 and ODI’s. Think of the great upsets that have occurred in coloured clothing. Bangladesh beating the almighty Australians in 2005 at Cardiff is the first that comes to my mind. Remember Ireland’s heroic performance in the 2007 World Cup? You probably wouldn’t want to if you were on the wrong end of one of those upsets.
Whilst it is great entertainment when the underdog triumphs against the heavyweight, is it always for the best? I mentioned Ireland’s performance at the 2007 World Cup. Whilst you may remember the games they won and the uplifting scenes that followed. You may not remember the next phase of Ireland’s campaign. Thanks to those aforementioned upsets, Ireland took their place in the Super 8’s at the expense of a ‘bigger’ side. They proceeded to lose all of their games in this phase which skewed the outcome of the final table. Had the more prominent side taken place it would have been far more interesting. Can you honestly say that Ireland deserved to play in the Super 8’s ahead of India? No, didn’t think so. Would this have happened over a longer form of the game? I think I can safely say no, definitely not.
If one were trying to describe the colossal difference between one-day and Test cricket (which by coincidence I am trying to do). Bangladesh would be the perfect example. Recently, the have become a good one-day side. They have players such as Shakib al-Hasan and Tamim Iqbal who can win them games single-handedly. They recently beat New Zealand (usually considered a strong one-day side) 4-0 on home turf. This was a great victory for Bangladesh but it has been a long time coming. They have had plenty of one-off wins which have suggested improvement (they have beaten every single Test playing nation) but have never quite managed the consistency which is so vital. It looks like that consistency has finally been achieved and I’m sure they will be a force to be reckoned with at a home World Cup.
However, whilst Bangladesh possess the players and the skills to compete in the one-day arena they are still a long way from being able to consistently challenge in Test Matches. They have still only won against a severely depleted West Indies side and Zimbabwe. They have never really looked like winning against any of the other nations. To me this proves why Test cricket is the ultimate form of the game. One player cannot win a game single-handedly in Test Matches, you need contributions throughout the team. It is also a much harder game both mentally and physically. Imagine having to bat for 6 hours in 40 degree heat with men around the bat and the world’s best bowlers doing everything they can to get you out. Then picture having the task of having to go out with the aim of hitting a quick 30 or 40 with a hard ball and the field spread, the bowlers containing rather than hunting. I think I know which I’d rather be doing. It certainly takes a special kind of talent to succeed at Test level, something you can’t learn in ODI’s and something some players just do not seem to have.
Michael Bevan is someone who illustrates this point perfectly. He is one of the all-time great one-day batsmen. An expert finisher who could seemingly win the game from any position. You would think this cool under pressure, talented player would have no trouble succeeding for Australia in the longer form. Wrong, he never looked like the same player in whites and only played 20 Tests for Australia.
The need for a World Test Championship is becoming greater by the day. Whilst the purists and the players (for the most part) agree that Test cricket is the ultimate and must be protected. Many fans see One-day and Twenty20 cricket as the most important forms of the game purely because it is more ‘entertaining’. Perhaps the only thing keeping the droves from supporting Test cricket is the absence of a trophy. If I concocted a cardboard cut-out which definitively proclaimed who the Test World Champions were, would all this shorter format hysteria go out of the window? Worth a try I suppose.
What I do know is that for now, the cricketing world is focused on the World Cup. The ‘ultimate’ challenge, for players who aren’t good enough for the ultimate challenge.
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