Does Test cricket in the current form and quantity match the need? ©Getty

Everybody in the cricket community I meet in England is talking about the future of Test cricket. That is good and worrisome. Let me explain.

People in England understand Test cricket and love it like it is loved nowhere else. At Lord's, where the old arrogance has been replaced by warmth, the little things are still alive. Young Ollie Pope got a rousing welcome to international cricket and while they might be struggling to score runs, India's openers walked amidst applause in the Long Room to go out to bat. Cricket at Lord's is very much like cricket used to be when I was growing up all those years ago. The little things, the original love.

And so you can understand the fear and the uncertainty surrounding their favourite sport. It is good that people are so keen to keep it alive and in doing so, I suspect, keep a bit of themselves happy. The worrisome bit is that the people talking about what to do to keep Test cricket vibrant are already lovers of Test cricket. And the people they are talking to, in meetings and little functions, are already lovers of Test cricket too. The preachers are talking to the converted. They are talking amongst each other, they are telling each other what they already know, what they want to hear. It is a very dangerous conversation because they do not want to know what the world beyond their clan thinks of Test cricket. Many great brands have died like that.

Jack Welch once said, and it is line that everybody must display in their organisations: "If the rate of change on the outside is greater than the rate on the change on the inside, then the end is near". Over the years, cricket has become a closed fortress, preventing voices from the outside from seeping in, even belittling those that manage to penetrate. The voices being offered to the world are all from within, the influencers are from within but the recipients are smarter than we think. Till recently, the cricket community, the players and the voices, haven't cared too much for what the consumer thinks. The mismatch between the offering and the need has grown wider than before.

That is why I was delighted to read recently of a major survey the ICC has carried out and I await the outcome very keenly because the voices from beyond the fortress will give their verdict. Not just about Test cricket but also about women's cricket and the manner in which cricket should be presented to its patrons. I use the word 'patrons' specifically, not just 'fans'.

We seek to find solutions to the mix that should be offered from within the game. How many Test matches? How many T20 Internationals? Should we have T20Is at all or merely restrict T20 to the leagues around the world? Should we offer one-day cricket at all? The consumer though, isn't bound by cricket's offering; he, and increasingly, she, will pick and choose and if what is offered isn't what is needed, there is a lot outside to watch. Amazon Prime, Netflix and Facebook, and so much more. If you say we will not give you T20Is, they won't spend the rest of their life moaning and feeling denied and putting up with what they get, they will go elsewhere. And so, cricket needs to be very careful about what it is offering and stay in tune with modern trends.

I am not saying we ditch Test cricket completely. No. But maybe we need to look at how much Test cricket we are offering? What time are we offering it at? Which teams are playing? Are they competitive? It is an important question. England came to India and lost 0-4. India is in England and getting roundly outplayed. So too with India and Australia. With Sri Lanka and South Africa. Should everybody be playing Test cricket at all given the fragile health it is in. I saw India play Sri Lanka last year. At Galle, Pallekele and Colombo. Nobody was interested, nobody turned up. Bangladesh go to the West Indies to play Test cricket and there are fewer people at the ground than at a birthday party, albeit a large-ish one! Should we be offering these games to our patrons because it hurts Test cricket to have those matches played.

I strongly believe we need to look at how our game is being offered too. Is it enticing? Are the stories being well told? Are we telling a generation that doesn't know it why Test cricket is special and hoping the stories hold them a little longer? Are we, as my friend Alan Wilkins often says, "broadcasting" the game, meaning are we making it intelligible to broader sections of viewers? Do we have the right storytellers for what is left of Test cricket?

For too long answers to these questions have come from closed communities. We can't shut our doors and windows, board them up, and expect to know what kind of breeze is blowing outside. The answers to where our game goes and what we put out must come from consumers. From the patrons of our sport.

We can no longer be as incestuous as we have been.

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