Test matches the key

THE world order in Test match cricket is changing. Former leaders India have just completed a 4-0 drubbing at the hands of an Australian team testing new young players, changes forced upon it following humiliating double Ashes defeats.

On the back of these successes, in addition to their own home whitewash against India, England rose to the top to claim the accolade of best team in the world. However, without the green, green grass of home they have struggled against an erratic Pakistan team stripped of its captain and most promising bowlers and already lost the three-match series despite having only played two Tests.

Yet, for both India and England, it is not the defeats themselves which will cause alarm, but the manner in which they lost.

Australia started the series with the smallest of their victories – a winning margin of 122 runs – and finished with a more emphatic differential of 298 runs. In the two other Tests they were only required to bat once.

While England lost their recent match in Abu Dhabi by ‘only’ 72 runs, this was achieved while chasing a total of 145. This followed a 10-wicket defeat in Dubai in a match that was over inside three days.

Fans of both India and England are clamouring for change. In the case of England there is a mixed approach with Kevin Pietersen (failed to score and injudicious shot-selection), Ian Bell (inconsistent) and Eoin Morgan (failed to adapt to Test cricket) all looking vulnerable. 

Even captain Andrew Strauss has some calling for his head, despite him top scoring in the last innings with nearly three times the volume of runs notched by all the other specialist batsmen combined.

In the case of India it is more a case of ‘out with the old, and in with the new’. Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman and even Virender Sehwag are in the spotlight for perceived failings. However, to dismiss such talented batsmen would be failing to consider that the team has struggled due to an inability to bowl out the opposition.
 
The Australian bowling attack, with virtually no experience in relative terms, has shown its Indian counterparts how to bowl. It is, perhaps, also a system that encourages the more experienced players to enjoy the luxuries of life rather than perform at their peak. Batsmen, to an extent, can get away with this. Bowlers cannot.

However, both these teams have some way to go to reach the depths recently experienced by Zimbabwe. Despite scoring only 495 for 7 in their first innings, New Zealand were able to record the largest winning margin in their history, by a barely credible innings and 301 runs.

Chris Martin led the way with eight wickets as the Black Caps routed Zimbabwe twice in the same day. There was nothing wrong with the wicket as Zimbabwe were dismissed in their first innings for 51, the lowest they have ever scored.

England currently lead the Test Rankings with 125 points, although this will fall to 119 with a draw and 118 with a defeat when they repeat their opening series fixture against Pakistan in Dubai.

South Africa will rise to the top should they complete a clean-sweep over New Zealand in their forthcoming series while Australia also have aspirations to be called the best with confidence high having dismissed the Indians so easily.

Pakistan, mercurial and enigmatic, could close the gap on arch-rivals, India, to only three points if they continue to show the consistency that has been their hallmark since Misbah-ul-Haq took the reins.

There has been much debate as to whether Test cricket has a future in the age of T20 with fans preferring the quick-fix, although I perhaps should not use that term in association with cricket!

With the recent drastic reversal of fortunes of the current and former global leaders there has also been debate as to the validity of a system that allows teams to rise to the top having played a series on favourable home conditions. However, that’s exactly the point!

The ranking system allows fans to compare the relative performance of teams balanced over a number of years, home and away – just like any league in the world. The main difference is that it is a rolling league spread over years (necessitated due to the time taken to complete matches) with no fixed end date. However, teams are awarded a trophy on reaching the top.

Personally, I don’t believe it is as simplistic as arguing that teams playing away from home will lose – it is more as a result of the differences between conditions in Asia compared to the rest of the world, although this has to be combined with the ability of the home side to deliver players with the skills to maximize the local advantage.

In the case of Pakistan, they have two clever spinners who have bamboozled batsmen with limited technique and confidence has been in even shorter supply the longer the series has developed.

At home in Pakistan the fast bowlers have typically had a greater influence. Yet they have been out-bowled in this regard by an English pace attack that can still hold its collective heads high and claim to be the best in the world.

One also has to consider form and the ability to adapt to different unfamiliar conditions. England have too many batsmen scoring badly. Pietersen and Bell scored 1,037 runs between them in six innings (combined) against India, yet have managed only 53 in four against Pakistan.

India’s powerful opener, Sehwag, recently scored the highest one-day score of 219 in India, yet managed only 218 against Australia in eight innings.

All of this goes to highlight why Test cricket should remain a strong feature and those who focus on T-20 are missing out.