LCricket fans admit it. We have a whining problem. In the year 2024, we had at least two former Test captains, both influential voices, calling for two tiers in Test cricket. Ravi Shastri said this at an event organized by the MCC, which governs the laws of cricket. Michael Vaughan made his comments after England’s one-sided win over Sri Lanka at Lord’s only the following week to beat England at The Oval. The basic assumption is that only two teams are fit to play the best three or four teams in the world.
And I’m looking at you all. Vaughan and Shastri aren’t the only ones to end Test cricket. Thousands of you have agreed. When we’re doing live commentary here at ESPNcricinfo, I see feedback. In 2017, when India beat Sri Lanka very easily in Sri Lanka, I got a shock myself.
Killing Test cricket seems to have become an industry, and lack of competition is the stick that is usually used to beat it. Test cricket may have 99 problems with more entertainment options than ever in the world, but competitiveness or quality or depth are not among them. Not in the big 2024.
This wonderful year has been one of the best for this format of the game. It started with India winning a Test in Cape Town, their only win there and only the second loss to the hosts in their fort in the last ten years. Almost simultaneously, on a glorious January day, the West Indies and England upset strong hosts Australia and India in Brisbane and Hyderabad. A dynasty ended as New Zealand whitewashed India in India, the hosts’ first home series defeat in 12 years. India bounced back quickly to win in Perth to hand Australia their first defeat at this stadium. Bangladesh defeated Pakistan in Pakistan, and secured a historic win in the West Indies.
There has only been one draw all year, and that was thanks to Trinidad’s weather. There, too, South Africa and the West Indies were so interesting that they fell short by just 97 runs, or five wickets short of the result. 2024 has been scored faster than any other year. Not since 1907 have wickets fallen so quickly in a single year.
Some time ago there were concerns about the future of the game in Sri Lanka and South Africa. Both sides have allayed fears of irrelevance because of their bowlers, not superstar batsmen. At the time of writing, Sri Lanka have the joint-highest win-loss ratio this year, and South Africa are likely favorites to make the World Test Championship final.
The WTC, for which the points system is fairly straightforward, has reinvigorated the teams’ determination to win. Concessions for drawing test are almost over. Sometimes this pressure to score maximum points from home Tests results in interesting pitches that tend to bring the opposition bowlers into play, which was certainly the case in Pune, Mumbai and Perth, where the more established home The attacks were foiled by the inexperienced. Units Current pitches have made away teams much more competitive: the win-loss ratio for away teams in 2021 was 1.125 and 0.826 in 2024. These two years were very good for the touring teams. You have to go back more than a decade to find a year with a better win-loss ratio. And these are both WTC years, a sign of what the Test tournament has delivered despite its inevitable flaws.
In a way, Test cricket has responded to the times, barring a few setbacks. This is quickly getting to the point. The first two or three days of making a run in Asia and then not relying on the pitch for the result. The WTC has only accelerated a trend that began in the mid-2010s.
Let’s not forget that players, as a rule, will continue to improve over time. Diet, training, sports science all improve to produce better, fitter, stronger players, especially bowlers. Almost every team has a larger pool of bowlers than it did in any glorious era in our nostalgic memories. No more looking at the new ball and then cringing at the drop in intensity and quality of bowling. The dynasties that Australia built in the 2000s with two record winning streaks are now hard to sustain, not because Australia has gotten worse but because the competition has always been tougher.
Competition for Test cricket from other entertainment sources, including within cricket, has strengthened. Of course, all is not well in Test cricket. Along with all the good things to come, it was also a year in which South Africa sent the second-ranked team to New Zealand, not because of a player’s strike but because they had to play in Cricket’s proprietary domestic T20 league. It needed its key players. South Africa. The recent Durban Test against Sri Lanka saw hardly any crowd. The West Indies have consistently failed to attract the best players from the islands to cricket.
Most governing bodies keep Test cricket inaccessible. During the Perth Test, Indian fans couldn’t believe their luck when Cricket Australia released easily accessible highlights and clips packages of Jasprit Bumrah, Virat Kohli and Yashaswi Jaiswal’s performances. They are not used to it during Tests in India. Unlike baseball and basketball, where high-level data and open access to footage give fans a sense of ownership of the game, cricket continues to shoot itself in the foot by remaining exclusive to its teams and unfriendly to its users. has happened
And yet the game and its practitioners remain flexible, forever ready to ensure that the longest format is the best of them most of the time.
This year is no accident. This is a result of quality and depth in the playing field. And 2024 isn’t over yet. The greatest rivalry of our time is yet to eliminate itself and at the same time push for South Africa’s WTC finals. –cricinfo