“AS SOON as you step on that line, it is war. You try and get into a battle as quick as you can. I try and look in the opposition’s eyes and try and work out: ‘How can I dislike this player? How can I get on top of him?’” So said David Warner, a leading Australian cricketer, ahead of the Test series against England that begins on November 23rd. Mr Warner, who punched the England captain, Joe Root, in a nightclub during a previous series, was widely criticised in the British press for bringing hatred into a part of life—sport—that is supposed to spread joy.

But if Mr Warner was also promising a spectacle, it is one that cricket desperately needs. The Ashes series, as these Anglo-Australian confrontations are known, are the oldest contests in Test cricket (the form of the game played over five days). The two countries competed in the first-ever Test match, in 1877. Five years later Australia’s first win in England prompted the Sporting Times to run a mock obituary of English cricket, in which it envisaged how “the body will be cremated and the ashes sent to Australia”. When the English captain, Ivo Bligh, next led his team down under, he promised to bring “the ashes” home. Since then, their rivalry has probably added more to cricket’s folklore than any other.

This series will get plenty of attention in both countries, and the stands will be full. But the global health of Test cricket is not so assured. Only sparse crowds are watching India play a three-match series against their neighbours, Sri Lanka. With the five-day, four-innings form under severe pressure, cricket arguably needs a good Ashes series more than ever. Its fixture calendar is being squeezed by domestic Twenty20 (T20) competitions, in which games take little more than three hours. National cricket associations like T20 matches as they generally attract bigger crowds. Players, especially those from poorer cricketing countries, often prioritise T20 fixtures as the pay is better. This threatens to put Test matches into a death spiral. Fewer star players take part, and those who do will have spent less time honing the particular skills necessary for Test cricket. The result is a poorer spectacle, which weakens the financial case for Test matches, which in turn results in more players opting out. And so on. In addition to cutting the number of Test matches, international boards are now trying out shorter, four-day Tests. A close, competitive (and perhaps controversial) Ashes series would go some way to demonstrating that Test cricket can be visceral, nerve-shredding, blood-and-thunder sport.

Although the Ashes remains Test cricket’s last bastion, some innovation will be evident in the coming series. The Adelaide Test, played in early December, will be a day-night affair, beginning each day at 2pm and running until 9pm, compared with the traditional day of 11am-6pm. Day-night Tests are an attempt to copy the successful T20 model of playing flood-lit games in the evening with a view to attracting a beery, after-work crowd. It also necessitates the use of a newly designed pink ball that will be visible under floodlights. In this series, the novelty at least will ensure a full house. England will also attempt to try something new: winning the first game of the series in Brisbane, something that they have not managed since 1986.