Test cricket is very much alive and kicking

This year has been a tumultuous one for Test cricket. Many scribes have begun writing obituaries for the game that has formed the cornerstone of cricket competition for over a century. In relation to the ever-constant changes different sports have undergone recently, especially within the last 20 years where the iron grip of professionalism has made games slimmer, players quicker and stronger, and brought many a rule change with them, Test cricket certainly could be referred to as an anomaly.

True, the last two decades have spawned the bastard children of one-day international cricket and the newest of the lot, T20 cricket. Both of these games have had their ripple effect upon cricket’s whiskey, but rather than be a catalyst for the game’s destruction, they have arguably added layers of flavour and intensity.

Fielding standards are much improved, with individuals such as AB de Villiers and JP Duminy epitomising the modern fielder. South Africa have been truly blessed in this department, with Herschelle Gibbs carrying the mantle from the greatest fielder of all time, Jonty Rhodes, and passing it on to the new brigade. Herschelle’s time with the national team appears destined to be over, but with a player as talented as Gibbs, we don’t know for sure until the man himself calls it a day.

Run rates have increased, with four runs per over barely raising an eyebrow these days. Did you look at the figures surrounding Virender Sehwag’s savage 290-odd against Sri Lanka? He scored at close to a run a ball, an astounding achievement but something that shouldn’t be that surprising given his pedigree. Steve Waugh’s Australian side of the first half of the 2000s were the men responsible for pushing Test cricket into 4^th gear, since they believed, and rightly so, that if you score fast enough, you put your opponents under more pressure and to a large degree eliminate the weather as a factor.

The one worrying aspect that Test cricket has inherited (weird choice of word isn’t it? Surely it should be the other way round?) from its younger siblings is the change in pitches. On cricinfo.com, an insightful article was written by Harsha Bhogle, titled “Disarm the bowler. Kill the contest.”

Bhogle was referring to the recent ODI between Sri Lanka and India where more than 800 runs were scored. The point being made was that while it’s great to watch batsmen cut down bowlers, in terms of what cricket is meant to be — that being a contest between bat and ball — such matches, including the “438” game, do a disservice to the game.

Some of the pitches used during the recent India-Sri Lanka series were diabolical, though in fairness to the Indians, they pounded the Sri Lankans into submission. But with such emphasis being on the toss, it certainly leaves a stodgy taste in the mouth. An interesting side-plot was Muttiah Muralitharan having a very, very poor series by his standards. Is he finished? His next Test outing will provide more evidence, though I would say a bowler as great as Muralitharan is allowed to have one bad series over a 15-plus-year career. Cricket followers know he is that good.

Thankfully, South African groundsmen (most of the time anyway) understand that cricket isn’t just about the batsmen (though it is in many ways their game), and while the Centurion pitch used during the first Test between SA and England was low and slow (thanks to overuse because of the IPL and Champions Trophy), it provided an even contest where the batsmen were made to work for every run. This was epitomised by Hashim Amla, surely the calmest man to bat for South Africa since the great and often underrated Gary Kirsten.

With the Australians no longer the pre-eminent force in the world game, a bun fight is being waged between India, South Africa, Australia and Sri Lanka (though their loss in India is a massive blow to their aspirations) for the top spot in the Test tree. Pakistan and New Zealand battled to a drawn series in the Land of the Long White Cloud (Daniel Vettori take a bow … class performer with both bat and ball), while the West Indies showed that they still have the talent to pose a real threat to the more established teams in being unlucky to lose in Australia recently. England are somewhere in the middle, but their transformation isn’t complete (the Ashes is a great contest, but in the grand scheme of things, it’s only one series).

That being said, the first Test in Pretoria was a tough affair, with England bowling extremely well in the first innings and Graeme Swann showing us, which is extremely pleasing, that off-spin is far from dead in the international game. His batting at No 9 (where he averages 42 in Test cricket) makes him an extremely important player for the English, and a far better one than his predecessor, Monty Panesar, who has been turning his arm over for my local team, the Highveld Strikers (whoever came up with that deserves to eat some sea salt). Along with Strauss and that monster of a batsman at No 4, Kevin Pietersen, they are the men the public should watch for some quality cricket. I was fortunate enough to be at the Wanderers back in 2004/2005 when Strauss flayed the South African attack to pieces in marching to an excellent hundred. His cutting on that tour was exceptional in focus and execution, and while he didn’t have the best of times at Centurion, he is a high-quality Test batsman who averages more than 50 in five-day cricket since taking over the captaincy.

Friedel de Wet did well on debut, and with Dale Steyn possibly coming back for the second Test, South Africa should be able to topple England when the contest moves to Kingsmead. The fact that Morne Morkel appears to be bowling with confidence again (how about that snorter to Strauss in the second innings?) is great news for the Proteas, with Makhaya Ntini, Jacques Kallis and Paul Harris (a personal favourite of mine and unappreciated in certain quarters. When was the last time a South African spinner took a fifer in South Africa?) completing a balanced and dangerous attack.

It may have been a stressful year for the five-day game, but at this moment there is some very good cricket to be watched, and when the action rolls round to Cape Town for the New Year’s Test, I will be there having a beer enjoying cricket’s toughest format.