This Test Cricket Thing

I can watch for five days with anticipation and plenty of mixed emotions as the matches progress…

I can’t watch with the same energy a T20 double header.

#SaveTestCricket

Please

In reply to Raskil

Seconded

Big man cricket ...

In reply to Brerzerk

Even better when stats are shown highlighting the best in the game and my fellow West Indians are mostly topping the class.
In other words…yah cyant talk badass cricket without mentioning/honoring a West Indian or three.

In reply to Kay


My sentiments exactly!!!

In reply to Raskil

Great all round viewing experience, from exilatering on field play to excellent commentary.

Same sentiments for test cricket in the Caribbean?

In reply to Raskil

Where do you live?

When last did you go to a test match in the Caribbean?

In reply to Brerzerk

Where do you live?

When last did you go to a test match in the Caribbean?

In reply to Kay

Where do you live?

When last did you go to a test match in the Caribbean?

In reply to Fantom

Where do you live?

When last did you go to a test match in the Caribbean?

In reply to imusic

I’m in the USA
I’ve started playing and watching cricket when C Ambrose was almost retiring…I apologize for not witnessing many of the great West Indians live.
I can only comment on my era.

In reply to imusic

It's called freedom of choice and convenience, so i watch what i want to watch and when. Matches starting at 6:30 in the evening is prime time where i live .....

In reply to imusic

I'm watching Oz vs Ind and RSA vs Pak. If WI was properly administered/managed and doing well many non Windians would donate I am with their teams and I would even time visits to coincide with WI tests

In reply to Raskil

Dem men mash up wi cricket just when it was trying to rise. Remove Gayle form captaincy, dropping Sarwan on the premise of a lie that he failed a fitness test never administered then telling D J Bravo he was surplus to requirements for tests was just the start

Thanks for the responses.

The point is……outside of maybe Dominica, nobody goes to test match cricket in the region.

With good reason

Watching the likes of India, England. Oz, etc play test cricket is cool because there is entertainment. Not a block o Rama.

Test cricket not in danger in England, Oz, or India. Or even South Africa & NZ.

In the West Indies…..it’s on life support.

West Indian cricket fans aren’t stupid. Not only is the team not good. We also know, despite protestations to the contrary, that our best players don’t play this format.

So what’s the incentive to go? Memories?

In reply to imusic

I know you are a T20 connoisseur but you don't have to beat down Tests to do that. I am sure you can still appreciate the ebbs and flows of Test match cricket where you can have a fair contest between bat and ball. Unfortunately, that fair contest is absent from the overwhelming majority of T20 matches that I have observed.

In reply to Brerzerk

Let me be a conspiracy theorist.
WI cricket had to fall because we were too dominant.
The knife was handed to the administrators to execute the job, incentivized obviously.

It’s just a theory not a fact.

In reply to Fantom

Read my post above. I’m not beating down Test cricket.

I’m saying the format is not sustainable in the West Indies anymore.

In reply to imusic

The failure of CWI to build on our outstanding legacy of cricket is a failure of the ruling classes of the Caribbean. People tend to be a little too short term oriented.

In addition, there have been some failings that in a more organized society there would need to be some accountability for certain actions.

How the hell can CWI sell CPL to Digicel, Digicel then sells CPL to some other people and now Denis O'Brien, who I am told is or was affiliated with Digicel, now own CPL again? This sounds like double dealing and some corrupt practices must be involved somewhere.

In reply to imusic

Brother IM if the product (WI Team) was good stands at home would be fully except that ICC gate receipts dynamics would price out too many

In reply to Brerzerk

The ONLY possible chance for our test team to be truly competitive AND attract fans to come out to support is if our best players played that format.

The criteria set by WICBC/WICB/CWI for selecting the test team prevented that from happening over the past decade or so.

There is reportedly change on that front from this most recent administration.

We’ll see if the players respond. But they have the leverage in their favour. The horse has already bolted. Will be interesting to see how that all works out in the coming years.

Meanwhile, we fans will continue to delude ourselves by making excuses that to play test cricket you have to play red ball cricket regularly etc while closing our eyes to the reality that we are being represented by arguably the best of the rest, especially in the batting department.

In reply to imusic

Excuses, a fact blood, sorry you cannot see that far. Your fact that says our best players not playing red ball cricket, then we need more playing red ball cricket to fill the void. I see more red ball cricket assisting Athanaze, Carty and Co. Nothing can help KB.

I'll even compromise and say even more ODIs, as I am now advocating for this to be the stepping stone for Tests and T20s.

Most of the administrators of WI cricket do not know how to build a social system or business, most of them are not even businessmen where future planning is important and vital for success.