During the cricket series between Australia and the visiting South Africans, commentators frequently referred to a 'crisis' in Test cricket. Gazing around the grounds at what they considered to be smallish attendances, some commentators suggested that people were spurning the game in its 'purest form', represented by five-day Test matches between national elevens.
Such comments suggest that the radio, television and press experts have priorities that are at least short-sighted and perhaps even cynically commercial.
Some commentators seemed anxious to get the Tests over so that the popular 'forms of the game' could proceed. This attitude is offensive to the dedicated fan of cricket. These other 'forms' — the 'one-dayers' and Twenty20 matches are not 'other forms' but quite distinct and different games.
The late, great 'Tiger' Bill O'Reilly, champion leg-spinner, had little respect for games limited to 50 overs per side, so he would probably turn in his grave to learn of the even shorter version.
O'Reilly said Test cricketers should be spared the indignity of playing limited overs games — what the commentators today describe as 'adapting'. O'Reilly thought that if spectators were excited by quick slogging, it would be preferable to invite a couple of teams from the wheat belt areas to the city. These bushies would have great strength in their upper bodies and would be accustomed to playing on hard, fast, bouncy pitches.
In all probability, O'Reilly would see the arrival of Twenty20 as an attempt to make the 50-50 one-dayers look sophisticated. He would certainly feel vindicated by the way in which some players who have had no first-class experience can dominate Twenty20 matches.
And just because crowds might be entertained by such games does not mean that already overworked Test players need take part. That they do participate currently has more to do with the demands of advertisers, who must have identifiable heroes to associate with their products. The commercial imperatives of the summer and the staging of Twenty20 games threaten the dignity of Test players by treating them as junior sales personnel.
During the Tests, commentators were preoccupied with the likelihood of one senior batsman continuing in the Australian side. Eventually, Matthew Hayden announced his retirement as a Test player, but only after he was omitted from the one-day and Twenty20 teams.
It is strange that commentators ignore the evidence of the advertisements. When a player's star is on the rise, he is in demand