From the Archives-Testing the Time Tested

It’s the familiar story of supplement trying to supplant the edifice, all over again. Barely on own foot and T20 already has the momentum of torrents to be the new visage of the game. The “remotely” positioned viewers and those devoid of telecast of baseball matches have rested assured of more theatre shows coming by and put the game to Rest In Peace. A repeat of the 1882 satirical obituary on cricket may well be around the corner.

Few wise (if I might say that) men still feel otherwise. Michael Simkin (author of Fatty Batter: How Cricket Saved My Life) contends “Soon it’ll be 10/10, 5/5, then one ball to hit a six or you’re hanged. Include me out.” Talks from ICC circles about the future of Test Cricket, making it a four day affair and more have perturbed the avid followers of the game. Peter Roebuck has already expressed his displeasure in his columns and found fellowship in some of the elite of the cricket fraternity, Arjuna Ranatunga, Richie Benaud and Tony Grieg to name only a few. Neither their fears about the future of the game nor the protagonist’s conviction about Test Cricket is built on sand dunes.

Cricket, since its birth 300 odd years ago in the grasslands of England, was always meant to be a contest between the bat and the ball and never for playing to the gallery. Driven by taste, viewers may decide upon the choice of the game they would swear by and not vice versa. A saying in Hindi goes, the well will not go unto the thirsty but the thirsty will have to go thereto. Our cash rich cricket bodies are doing just what would take to tear apart the very fabric of the game. Pecuniary insatiability has seldom been resisted successfully in the history of mankind and no wonder tradition has been made to battle fiscal forces, with one leg already on the throat. ODIs, being referred to, hoping that World Cup would be the elixir. While being sportive in commerce has always been advocated for, being commercial in sports can only be catastrophic.

Beginning with the days of Industrial revolution and till the present moment we have learned to live fast and die faster. There may be numerous instances in the past to learn from but as Steve Waugh puts in his autobiography “we learn from history that we don’t learn from history”. Any art or sport form that quells quality and is blindfolded by the lure of crisp notes is knee deep into its grave already. T20 with no intensity and pure “slappy” dramatism may be 2 nails together on the coffin while the final ones are being molded. Expecting anything else out of T20 format will be dwelling in a utopian world.

With cricket now a contest of distance that each willow can fetch, bowlers may do well to send their proxies in the form of bowling machines. If no budget is left, after sponsoring valuable or worthless players (whichever way you see), for bowling machines, umpires can step in and run immediately to the boundary with a measuring tape to scale the distanceJ. Younis Khan’s comment was not the least bemusing when he said “In this form it is better to take it easy and have fun. It is like WWF”.

Test cricket has always been the perfect pedestal to show case the myriad skills involved in a game of cricket, discovered by the English and mastered by everyone other than themJ The format is embedded with equal justice for both the bat and the ball to leave their mark and for the “one in a generation” like Mitchell Johnson (quoting Thomson, curse him, if you have to for his performance in the Ashes 2009) to leave a mark with the ball or the bat. The only version of the game where an athlete’s acumen or the lack of it is exposed to the core. Call it the Acid Test.

A quintessential test match is an equal opportunity entertainer where the quickies and the technically accomplished batsmen can have Day 1 to their names if they are potent enough (and the curator has done his part). Day 2 can belong to the old ball stalwarts and the more flamboyant batsmen. The spinners and fleet footed batsmen can make Day 3 and the climax unfolds on Day4 and 5. The spectators both on and off the stadium would have received wholesome entertainment and would have admired the players of their choice, not inevitably a batsman. Much in contrast to narrow your liking to Yusuf PathanJ, nolens volens, if T20 were to have sway.

On a more jocular note, drawing from a little conversation that yours truly had with former Sri Lankan skipper Roshan Mahanama, there is at least a 2nd chance (innings) to resurrect from past failure and stand in contention for selection. No, this is not a tongue in cheek comment at VVS.

Only an eye with zeal for details will appreciate the idiosyncrasies of the marvelous game, which can never be unfurled in a T20 version played for the so called “15 minutes of fame”. The legendary EAS Prasanna makes a remarkable comment in his biography “One More Over” about the aerodynamics behind spin bowling. The revolutions created on the ball create a vacuum around it and as the initial velocity is consumed there is a sudden dip invariably foxing the batsmen, especially those who are stuck at the crease. More the flight and revolutions, sharper will be the dip. In sharp contrast, with 24 balls to outplay a batsman such an art is certain to become folklore soon. Compound this with field restrictions & short boundaries (past the infield into the boundary), it would take Christ to stand this crucification.Not another youngster would aspire to be a bowler. Sri Lanka will be a subject matter of interest not just to the media covering IDPs but also for factories that can produce “slingers” (Malingas)J.

T20s being played at the drop of a hat, we have champions who last till the time companies hold their Annual General MeetingsJ. The results and performances are marked as vividly as wind over water. Believing that such soap operas can sustain the interests of the viewers for ever will be expecting hope to triumph over experience. The glory of the game has come from artful exponents and why on earth do we need cheerleaders and mega screen performers to be involved.

Few years down the line and I wonder if any of the performances can be singled out from memory. Decades later Prasanna’s epic battle with Ian Chappel, an extremely good player of spin, with “net handed” Eknath Solkar (Ekkie) at forward short leg is still etched in memory. Sunny’s tryst with Malcom Marshall and his short pitched missiles brought out an awe inspiring game of batsmanship at the Kotla ground in the form of a resounding century and the hook shot back into his repertoire during the 1983 series. A piece of history that will be as eternal as carved on stone. Frozen over time is the battle of belligerence between Sir Gary Sobers and Dennis Lillee where the former warned the then Aussie captain Ian Chappel, “inform Lillee that I too can bowl short ones and I can be quick too”. Lillee had a taste of his own medicine when he was dished brutish short pitched deliveries by none other than the calypso legend in return for what he received from him. Not just monumental performances, there has been no dearth of humor too. Sunny going at a rare no.4 position and India in a hapless situation made an amused “smoking joe” Viv say in his typical style “whathever number you come maaan, the score is sthill 0″. The much celebrated calypso spirit on display.

Having stood the onslaught of Kerry Packer’s antics, there is still hope around. Looking to vindicate this, the recently concluded Ashes Series has been a capacity crowd puller.

On the flipside Freddie Flintoff has announced his retirement from Test cricket. His knee has become a cushion for needles, but that doesn’t pain for T20s, IPL melodrama and sporadic ODIs. It is difficult to believe that players like Hayden and Freddie are past their best looking at performances in IPL, etc. A very condemnable trend, players retiring even during their prime to make them available for more lucrative games. Caps being traded for cash.

The shortest version of the game is a well identified cash cow and if the obsession continues unabated it can very well consume all the other formats. By the time we are out of the deliquium, we will be left with club wielders instead of batsmen and bowling machines would have replaced bowlers. Bookies and match fixers couldn’t have expected a better windfall (it takes a child’s knowledge to exposit further).While the trenchermen would have changed their interests the gourmets will be left starving for the game they relished for aeons.

The Dravids, Sachins, Laras and Pontings would be the last of their genre as the species heads to extinction. The stalwarts of the yore have all been from and through the grind of Test Cricket. The reader is only too knowledgeable for me to name them.

If good sense or just sense prevails we would be looking into preparing sportive pitches for test cricket not just featherbeds allowing 600 runs per innings and the wicket keeper bowling at the end to finish formalities. 4 day test matches would be remedy turning worse than the disease. There will only be more draws as any team can impulsively decide to bat through than offering a fight. Every wicket cannot be made into a WACA and the pitiable bowlers cannot dream of dream spells every time the ball is thrown to them.

T20 is the variety that is the spice of life. Let’s not commit the faux pas of replacing our staple diet with spice. A place for everything and everything in its place will keep mayhem at bay.