The Down Under summer may have produced a mixed bag of results for Australia, but that is not a bad thing for cricket in general.
Six completed Test matches gave the home team a healthy 5-1 lead, but the singular loss to the Windies may have soured the summer for Pat Cummins’ men while leaving a tingly taste in the mouths of the wider cricket community.
Test cricket is a game best served by experienced players, but the exceptions that prove the rule are scattered about like gold nuggets on Bondi Beach and the game and the fans are all the better for them.
A recurring theme for column fillers and schooner drinkers has been the demise of Test cricket, yet support through the turnstiles and on the small screens seems to indicate otherwise. The argument in Australia prior to Pakistan’s arrival was based around the local knowledge that Pakistan are hopeless away from home, were missing some top talent and hadn’t won over here since Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis were curling it around corners. No matter the result, the play was compelling; only Pakistan’s butterfingers proving decisive.
The emergence of Amir Jamal, ostensibly a seam bowler but with loads of ticker with the bat and ball, gave heart to those in Sialkot and Sydney. He was up to Test cricket and he was up to the world champions. A Test cricketer for now and the future.
Mohammad Rizwan thrilled the crowds and chilled the bowlers. Apart from the odd spillage Pakistan fielded with urgency and intent. Terrific Test cricket.
Shamar Joseph celebrates a remarkable Test victory with teammates at the Gabba.Credit: Getty
The West Indian and South American Shamar Joseph may well have been an Inca chief when he passed through immigration so little was known of him. He departed Terra Australis a superstar on two continents and an archipelago. There was never to be a low pressure T20 introduction to the big time, a la David Warner, for the man from Berbice, instead he had the luxury of plenty of balls to face and more than four overs to bowl.
Learning on the job is par for the course these days as competitive warm-up first-class games are few and far between. Joseph was a quick study indeed. The cricket world is a better place for the West Indies giving some untested talent a spot when their franchise veterans couldn’t work up the enthusiasm. Moreover, Joseph’s performance led to a most unexpected win.
Australia were chastened but could hold their heads high as they were outplayed by a worthy adversary rather than beating themselves with sloppy or ill-disciplined cricket.
Meanwhile, India and England have started the increasingly rare five-Test series with a bang and a smash: fast bowlers winning laurels over the tweakers in the kingdom of spin and Poms making big centuries and breaking all manner of come-from-behind records. The Poms gave debuts to two spinners and would have played three if the visa system had been working for all persuasions.
England celebrate during their stunning first Test win in India.Credit: Getty
Meanwhile, South Africa press-ganged the third XI so that the local T20 tournament could fill the coffers – which is a good plan when you’re broke. If you can’t pay the bills, the lights get turned off and there is no cricket at all.
The anonymous Proteas took on New Zealand with unstinting effort, but less experience than the Windies squad in Australia and after an unsurprising whipping in the first Test, forced the Kiwis into a decent fourth innings chase, which took another Kane Williamson masterclass to achieve.
Well played David Bedingham and Dane Piedt, two not very big names of Test cricket who were surplus to the SA20 cash fest. Instead, they made tons and took five-wicket hauls in the more difficult format. Kiwi fast bowling tyro Will O’Rourke took nine wickets on his debut; another kid living the dream of Test cricket and creating new fans.
The naysayers see Tests as shrinking to contests among the top three or four nations, while reality sees the drama, tension and skill actually being shared around more liberally. The task for the ICC and the home boards is to ensure that women’s Test matches continue to expand. Australia in India was thrilling, South Africa over here not so much, but the disappointment of Alyssa Healy falling on 99 or the thrill of Annabel Sutherland making a double hundred showcased the value of women’s Test cricket.
Dane Piedt grabbed eight wickets in his Test debut for an undermanned South Africa against New Zealand.Credit: AP
The Australian team will end this summer’s Test commitments with a two matches across the ditch. The results are crucial to make up for the home loss in the Test Championship, but the Black Caps have compiled a formidable record at home and a close series is predicted, especially on seaming pitches against the young guns. While the football codes rage around us, there will be riveting Test cricket to watch.
In the early 1980s as coloured uniforms, white balls, night matches in prime-time television slots and results achieved in one day were swamping the cricket topography, the death knell of Test cricket was sounded loudly. How could five-day contests possibly compete with the fast and the flashy, the bubble and froth of this new wonder game?
Test cricket was given a few short years before it went the way of the three-point try and the Bledisloe Cup.
Forty years later, in November 2023, similar sentiment was being expressed as South Africa, the West Indies and Pakistan looked well under strength. By January 2024, Test cricket had answered the critics with a resilience, a resurgence and innovation that has all the hallmarks of 147 years of reinvention. The lulls, murmurs and space of Tests serve to allow thought and analysis of the action while building the drama of the individual and the team.
Recently, 50-over cricket was being written off in the manner of Tests, but a brilliant, unpredictable, eclectic World Cup reminded us that we watch the game for the players and their performances rather than the style of the format. T20 leagues have spread quickly as owners and players grab a quick dollar, but does 20-over cricket really have the momentum to completely suffocate Tests?
Administrations will have to remain vigilant but, ultimately, the attraction of Test cricket is intrinsic: it creates unique, lasting memories.
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