West Indies fast bowler Kemar Roach has expressed his concern over the future of Test cricket in an exclusive interview with the Wisden Cricket Weekly podcast.
Roach, who has played Test cricket for West Indies since 2009, also called for the ICC to intervene to safeguard the future of Test cricket.
The Test game is increasingly dominated by the sport’s ‘Big Three’ of India, Australia and England as poorer boards have seen their Test fixture card shrink while also facing an increasingly difficult battle to prevent from losing their most gifted players to financially more rewarding T20 leagues around the globe.
West Indies, for example, have seen their average number of Tests each year drop from 12 – as it was in the first six years of the 21st century – to just an average of 7.2 over the past six years.
Roach, who sits fifth on West Indies’ all-time Test wicket-takers list, believes that the ICC needs to act in order to preserve the Test game for more than just the game’s most financially secure nations. “Of course, of course, they should be [doing more],” said Roach.
“They’re the governing board of cricket. A lot of people, a lot of articles are out that a lot of players [feel this way]. Ricky Ponting says he’s concerned about Test cricket and he’s one of the legends of the game. There are a lot of concerning factors that should be taken seriously. But it’s a governing body. They’re in charge of what happens next. We can talk as much as we want, but if they don’t want to do anything about it, then that’s where we are.”
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In reply to CaribbeanCricket.com
attention spans have gone and the ICC did so much to damage the test game: limiting bouncers, rigidly enforcing over rates, trying to police the conduct of players in the most machismo and gladiatorial of sports. Undoing all that Packer did to turn test cricket into a spectacle. Test cricket didn't face any dangers in the early 90s(when the WI were Kings) or when Australia ran the roost afterwards. The fall of an exciting team like the WI cannot be overemphasized. The teams following australia that ruled for short periods of time(england, india and SA) did not pay exciting cricket. They each had one or two exciting players, but they were dour sides. South Africa now plays with more flair than Graham Smith's team. Lets be honest, when SA were playing between 2010-2014, people came to watch their pacers and ab de villears. Kallis, a truly great cricketer. was extremely boring. Graham Smith, extremely boring as well. None of them ever had a strike rate in tests over 50. When those teams played, people came to watch their team win, not to see the spectacle of a great side strutting their stuff and thus the loss of the neutrals. Only Australia 1973-1979, WI 1979-1995 and Australia 1995-2007 did that.
ICC should be disbanded, it's the big 3 that are in charge of cricket!
In reply to XDFIX
yeah...but that wouldn't stop the rut. test cricket is dying in australia and england as well....and im not convinced it has a particularly strong interest in india either. India is winning now because they have very good players....but if and when there's a decline, that will show whether the test game has any real hold in the country, which i do not think it does.
Yes it’s the big three and the richer country. That we have no control over. What we have control over is to play better cricket and beat them. We are playing bad cricket and very unprofessional and boring cricket to the point that our stadiums are always empty. So I can’t blame ICC for reducing on the amount of games we play and on top of that Kimar Roach a below average bowler that should not even be on the team
Please let it be known that I'm not secretly Kemar Roach or Ricky Ponting.
