CHANGE NEEDED

Dean Jones stresses on need for Test World Cup

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"We need a Test World Cup. We need meaning and purpose behind Test cricket," said Jones. © Cricbuzz

For some time now, the International Cricket Council (ICC) have been repeatedly emphasising buzz words like "context", "structure" and "relevance" in its bid to reinforce the need to reshape international cricket. A mooted two-division Test league system, which would comprise seven teams in the top tier and five in the bottom, was dismissed last year after objection from the Asian bloc headed by the powerful BCCI.

Since that rejection, splitting Test cricket into two conferences has been floated and will be discussed at next month's ICC board meeting. These radical concepts have been proposed in a desperate bid to energise international cricket, particularly the sacred longest format, amid fears of the sport's standing in an increasingly congested modern world.

Outside of Australia and England, poor attendances have become an eye-sore for Test cricket, forcing cricket's custodians to face crux issues over the five-day format's future. Essentially, at the heart of the dilemma, Test - and One-Day Internationals - matches mean nothing exacerbated by world rankings that are often discarded and viewed as trivial.

Case in point, Australia were thrashed in the opening two Tests of the summer against South Africa resulting in a "full-blown crisis" but have then rebounded to win their next four Tests, including whitewashing a meek Pakistan. The goodwill might quickly erode during a daunting upcoming tour of India, where Australia could easily be humbled in foreign terrain. Once again, what does this all mean apart from a reworking of the convoluted rankings? Humiliating losses, like those Australia suffered against South Africa, can be quickly forgotten due to a lack of significance and amid a hodgepodge of formats.

Dean Jones, the former Australian batsman and outspoken broadcaster, has closely monitored the changing course of cricket after being one of the original architects of the now defunct Indian Cricket League, a forerunner of the franchise-based Twenty20 competitions currently dotting the landscape. Jones believed Test cricket had hit a crossroad and a World Cup needed to be instituted to reinvigorate it.

"Test cricket is in a bit of a pickle...what do these Test series mean? They mean nothing," he told Cricbuzz. "I think we need a Test World Cup. We need meaning and purpose behind Test cricket. The future tours program will be finished by 2019...2020 we will surely have to have a World T20, so that means a Test World Cup could be held in 2021."

Jones believed a Test World Cup should be played every four years and matches abbreviated to four days in length. Support for four-day Test matches has some influential backing with Mark Taylor, former Australian captain and current Cricket Australia board member, a proponent of the amendment.

"Five-day (Tests) is way too long, it can't keep people's attention," Jones said. "The game is based around TV, if you don't hold them for four hours then you're in trouble. If you look at all the great sports events around the world, they are built for TV...for four hours. Even the Augusta (golf major tournament), they only show on TV for four hours even though they play all day....they only show the telecast for four hours.

"We've played timeless Tests...Tests after the war were only three-day matches. I think the game needs to keep changing. There is only one law that hasn't changed in the game of cricket and that's the length of the pitch. Every other law has been manipulated and tweaked since its inception. We need to keep this game sexy."

Jones said four-day Tests meant a World Cup could be played within a 50-day duration and he was confident of some positive side effects. "There would be two groups, four-day Tests and (World Cups aside) there would be normal series organised by the boards, like the Ashes," he said. "If we have a Test World Cup, pitches will come under the ICC's rules and regulations. (Pitches) can't be manufactured....better pitches have to be prepared. There would not be Bunsen Burners or seaming (pitches).

"Moderation (of Test cricket) is good, teams should only be playing eight-10 Tests (a year), playing 17 Tests a year is ridiculous."

In the aftermath of the recent Test summer, Cricket Australia trumpeted record attendances and television ratings (both for non-Ashes and Indian series), although figures were slightly skewed due to the historic fixturing of two day-night Tests, a novelty albeit one that has been overwhelmingly successful and seems to have staying power.

Despite the lingering goodwill emanating in Australia, Jones said the Indian market would dictate Test's future as it had limited-overs cricket. "India hated One-Day cricket...hated it and then they won it in 1983 (World Cup) and then they loved it and played it more than anybody else," he said. "India hated T20 cricket...all of a sudden they beat Pakistan in the inaugural World T20 (in 2007) and then T20 cricket was away.

"If the Asian countries don't gravitate towards Test cricket, then we've lost it," he added. "Even if Australia and England love it, we've lost it."

© Cricbuzz

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