Magazine: How to Save Test Cricket?

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By Press Release in Cricket on 26th Nov 2009 8:00

Test cricket in crisis! Again! That's the headline you could draw from an MCC survey that finds just 7% of Indian cricket fans prefer Test cricket to other, lesser, forms of the game.

On the face of it this is indeed a troubling , dispiriting, finding. The survey, which was conducted by TNS Sport, sought, via the internet, the opinions of 1500 fans in India, New Zealand and South Africa to try and discover why Test match attendances have been falling and what might be done to reverse that trend. Peter Roebuck, always a gloomy bugger, summarised the findings thus: "It's not dark yet, but it's gettin' there" and worried that the greatest form of the noblest game is now on the brink of extinction outside England and Australia.

Perhaps. But I think that's too simplistic a view. I doubt MCC would claim the survey to be anything other than a snapshot but that doesn't make it worthless or, actually, as depressing as the headline figures might suggest. Take that 7% figure in India for instance: on the face of it this is alarming and so too is the fact that 58% of Indian cricket fans say that Twenty20 has decreased their interest in Test cricket. But more than 80% of Indian cricket-watchers say they follow Test cricket "regularly". That seems a healthy figure.

See the rest of this interesting article on the following link:-Spectator.co.uk

Also another article in the TImes on LIne

There are 2 comments on this article

26th Nov 2009 by vid

It could mean that due to the huge interest in 20/20 cricket the actual interest in cricket over all has gone up - it certainly has at junior level, plus the income has gone up - this can only be good for the longer game. I would think that the game constantly evolves and ultimately the game will change to suit both player and spectator requirements. I personally think the 20/20 game has livened Test cricket up a lot, with runs generally coming much quicker. The only drawback is that results have a tendancy of not using much if any of the fifth day - so perhaps it will be that last day that will be sacrificed in all except the ashes. I dont think that will be so tragic!!

26th Nov 2009 by bath

Only 7% of Indians, how many millions is that ? Still to many for most stadiums in the world to cater for.