The West Indies vs England series and the Australia vs Pakistan series are boring advertisement test cricket. There isn’t any other way to say this. There were lot of expectations before the series began. England have traditionally struggled against West Indies whereas Australia have not travelled well in Asia. Especially, against Pakistan, they have not won a series in Pakistan after the all-conquering Australian sides. Hence, they have a lot to prove. The stage was set for a couple of wonderful series but what happened, in the end, belied all expectations.
The sheer length of test cricket is mindboggling
6 hours a day over 5 days, test cricket is pretty lengthy. It takes a lot of patience not just for the players but for the spectators as well. No other sport can even come close to the time that is required to complete one test. It calls for a lot of temperament on the part of the watching spectators. As such, the game is duty bound to appeal to them. I do understand that a draw is part and parcel of the game. It is one of the facets of the game that in some cases ends up in a thrilling draw. However, what happened over the first and second tests in West Indies and Pakistan is something that must not be swept under the carpet.
West Indies and England do not want to take a chance
West Indies are a weak side. They do not want to lose a series of all the teams to England and that too in their own islands. They probably thought that they do not have the personnel to challenge England. It is another issue that England have gone to the West Indies on the back of a severe Ashes drubbing. England have left out their senior most bowlers and have gone with a rookie pace attack. Nonetheless, the West Indies seems to have felt that they still do not have the firepower to overpower England and they have laid out absolute placid tracks. In doing so, though they have ensured that they can draw the first couple of tests, they have overlooked the neutral observers.
Yes, it is perhaps true that the West Indian supporters are delighted by the results so far. Perhaps they are happy that they will not be humiliated on their home grounds. Let us also remember that West Indian cricket is short of money. Their cricket is struggling to capture the imagination of the wider audience. They need as much support from the outside so that they can thrive but with pitches where run scoring is difficult and picking up wickets is even more difficult, it is hard to see anyone wanting to follow West Indies cricket. If not for England trying to force a result on the 5th day in both the tests, things would have been even more mundane.
The Pakistan vs Australia series
The Pakistan series is another that is quite boring. Scores in excess of 450 were achieved with relative ease. Bowlers even of the calibre of Cummins and Starc or Lyon struggled to get wickets on such roads. On the otherhand, Khawaja, who is not known to perform when there is something in the pitch, is making hay while the sun shines. The same goes to Imam-Ul-Haq as well. The rate of scoring was again too slow. It clearly shows that the pitches were not ideal for batting or for bowling.
In the first test, Pakistan batted for almost 2 days and yet was able to score only 476. Australia were able to pick up just 4 wickets. In reply, Australia batted for 2 days and scored 25 runs less than Pakistan. On the whole, only 14 wickets fell in 5 full days. If this is not height of boring, I do not know what is.
Cricket returned to Pakistan after more than 10 years. If you had thought that the series will be good if not memorable, you would not have been wrong. However, what transpired on the field was not thought even in my wildest dream. Heck, Marnus Labuschagne’s picture of roti with curry with viral more than the game itself. The second test was slightly better in that Pakistan lost their way in the first innings with an inexplicable collapse but normal service was resumed in the second innings.
Cricket requires patience
Cricket is a game that requires an enormous amount of patience to sit through. More so test cricket. The players, the administrators and the pitch preparers are duty bound to provide entertainment for the general public. The cricket that is being played must be riveting if not exciting. It can only happen if the pitch has got something in it for the bowlers. At the sametime, overly bouncy pitches or overly turning pitches will kill the contest right there. There must be an adequate balance between the ball and the bat with a slight edge towards the ball.
Otherwise, the batsmen will pile on the misery upon the bowlers. Without any help from the pitch, the bowlers will be hard pressed to pick up wickets. Even the great bowlers have struggled when the pitch offers nothing. Great bowlers of the calibre of Steyn, McGrath, Warne or even the greatest fast bowling quartet, West Indian fast bowlers, have struggled on an unresponsive pitch.
Conclusion to draw is back in test cricket
Slowly but surely, limited overs cricket have taken over the entire game. This is not the 1990s when people had much more time to sit and endure test cricket. It is a fast world and people want instant gratification. ODIs and T20s offers them that. Already, lot of test series were cancelled in favour of limited overs. If not for WTC, most of the tests involving West Indies, Sri Lanka, Pakistan or even New Zealand will not be played at all. Crowds seldom turn up for watch these teams in tests even in their own backyard. This is a plain fact.
Test cricket with its unsustainable pace and length will eventually burn out. The pitches in West Indies and Pakistan will only propel test cricket to its sad demise sooner rather than later.