New Zealand Cricket has just announced that the three test series against Sri Lanka later this year will now be a two test series. The third test is being replaced with two Twenty20 matches. While I understand Martin Snedden's concern that a November test is unlikely to go the distance due to the weather, this makes New Zealand's calender even more of a joke than it is currently. We have no other test matches until November 2007. As Cricinfo reports, "New Zealand are now virtually out of the test circuit".
If this is what the future tours programme is about then perhaps we should just shoot test cricket in New Zealand in the head and put an end to it. I certainly think that would be preferable to the slow death we are enduring now.
Thursday, 15 June 2006
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5 comments:
I just hope that the Boxing Day 20/20 match is not played in Auckland. Aucklanders have shown a complete unwillingness to support cricket on Boxing Day in Auckland in the last few years, after the Boxing Day test in Wellington was abandoned for an ODI in Auckland.
This is deeply annoying. How much of a say does NZ cricket get in deciding these things? Somehow it wouldn't surprise me if they were deliberately avoiding Tests, but having only two tests between now and the end of 2007 is ridiculous.
I reckon it will be in Auckland for sure. Good call though - EP is a miserable ground for spectators, and has terrible support in terms of numbers. How good would a 2020 Basin Reserve match be on a sunny Boxing Day? Would prefer a Test of course but that ain't gonna happen. The 2020 on 22 Dec - the last day of work before Xmas will be an interesting proposition for the muppets in marketing down there in Chch too.
The Test will probably be in Napier/Chch & Wellington.
I think it would be best to have the first in Christchurch. South Island grounds play better pre-christmas. The Basin will be interesting - it'll be the first test match that hasn't been curated by Trevor Jackson. He finished as groundsman a couple of months ago. I just feel more and more peeved with NZ Cricket - why not have 2 games pre-xmas and then a boxing day test? Or - how's this for innovation, start on the 22nd, with a rest day on Xmas day?
The more I think about this the more it makes me mad. It seems to me that NZ Cricket are taking a deliberate approach to ensuring NZ are not any sort of force in test cricket. There seems to be a blind belief that following a ODI approach will lead to our salvation. I wonder if this has been influenced by the coach who has shown himself to be an adequate one-day coach and a useless test coach.
It's test cricket I love. I enjoy one-day cricket and I detest 20/20 cricket (it's as bad as that abysmal Cricket Max).
What are the games you remember, the ones that stick in your mind. It's test cricket, not one-day cricket.
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