Any move to reduce the length of Test matches is fraught with danger according to former Australian fast bowler Brendon Julian, who believes it would be detrimental to the quality of the entire sport.
Speaking ahead of the two Test series between Australia and the West Indies, the Fox Cricket expert declared a shortened format would lead to less entertaining games and more draws as teams adopted negative tactics to survive in matches.
Watch Australia v West Indies on Kayo Sports. Every Test, ODI and T20I Live with no ad breaks during play. New to Kayo? Start Your Free Trial Today >
Brendon Julian is our special guest on the latest edition of Fox Cricket’s The Follow On podcast. Listen below, or tap to listen iniTunes, Spotify or Omny.
“The thing with four day Test matches is that I think we would probably end up with more
draws because teams can hang on a lot longer,” Julian told Fox Cricket podcast ‘The Follow On’.
“When teams know there are five days in a Test match and you have to bat it out for two days, I think that you think differently. You try to be more aggressive because you are trying to win that game.
“When you have a shortened version of the game, that is when I think teams could try to bat out for a draw and extend the game, push into the fourth day, and think, ‘OK. We are over the line’. I don’t necessarily think it is a good idea.”
Julian’s assessment follows a suggestion by West Indian coach Andre Coley, who said a shortened format would make Test cricket more appealing to players.
“The longevity of Test cricket is a global concern,” Coley told Code Sports.
“To find time to play than more than two or three Test matches in a series is becoming increasingly difficult with the increase in the number of franchise tournaments that are being played around the world.
“You may be to consider potentially Test matches, making them four days. Because if you look at the pace of Test matches, the majority of matches are finished in four days.
“So it may be to create more time to make it more relevant, maybe potentially instead of five days, maybe four days, which is closer in line with first-class cricket and the pace of play and so on. Which then makes it even more attractive for white-ball cricket.”
Windies hopefuls hit serious runs | 00:41
But Julian, a fixture of Australian teams throughout the 1990s, said that rather than easing congestion in the calendar, cricket authorities would simply add more short-form games.
“What will happen is that if you shorten the Test series, they will just jam in another cricket tournament,” he said.
“To me, it is going to be the same thing. If you change it to a four day Test match, and play only eight days of Test cricket, they will just play another four or five T20s.”
He also believes Test cricket remains the priority for young cricketers in Australia, though it has been acknowledged this may no longer be the case in every nation.
But he said it was incumbent on cricket authorities to ensure players are properly compensated so that they dedicate themselves to the long-form game.
‘Made sense’ Pat backs Smith/Green combo | 01:33
“At the end of the day, if you have the money to pay players to play Test cricket, than they will play Test cricket, there is no doubt about it,” Julian said.
“If you speak to a lot of our young players coming through, Test cricket is still the pinnacle. They want to play for the ‘Baggy Green’. They want to play Test cricket for their country. At the end of the day, money speaks.”
Julian, meanwhile, is hopeful the West Indies will be able to challenge the Australians in the two Test series beginning in Adelaide on Wednesday and culminating in Brisbane next week.
“We always had our battles with England. Now we have our battles with India as well. But sadly the West Indies are nowhere near what they were. They were iconic times in Test cricket,” he said.
“It is going to be a tough one for the West Indies, no doubt about it. They have not won a series in Australia for three decades. They have not won a Test against us in over 20 years. So that makes it tricky. That makes it very, very difficult.
“The writing has been on the wall for a long time, at least 20 to 25 years that the West Indies were in decline.”
