James Anderson Concerned About Future Of Test Cricket

The recent decision of Alex Hales, Adil Rashid, and Reece Topley to play just white ball cricket raised questions over the future of Test cricket.

While many former cricketers predicted that other players could go Rashid’s way – two England players did it just a few days later.

The red-ball cricket exodus has a created lot of buzz around.

Amidst this James Anderson, England’s leading wicket-taker in Test cricket has said more people will start doing it (leaving red ball cricket) in future,

 “I just pray there is enough love for Test cricket out there. With the way cricket is going and the amount of Twenty20 cricket around the world, there is that worry that more and more people will start doing it. The next generation of players coming through might see that as a way to go if they want to find a career in cricket. It’s a lot fewer hours on the field playing, it’s a lot easier on the body and the mind, and it potentially could be more [lucrative] in terms of the money they can make around the world,”  he told BBC Sport.

As Anderson pointed out, the increasing number of T20 leagues played around the world is one of the major reasons behind this move.

The cricketers earn well by playing in the T20 leagues rather than playing the longest format of the game.

Also, first-class cricket demands more efforts and time and the monetary benefits are less what cricketers earn by playing T20 leagues.

Along with that, playing just limited-overs format will make a space for these cricketers to be part of the franchise for which they play.

The three England cricketers (Rashid, Hales, and Topley) have just announced to take the other way, and many more cricketers could follow the same route soon.

The trend might also spread to more countries, where the cricketers might pick and choose the format.

Already, the cricketing arena is suffering from the club over the country debate.

Many of the Windies players have chosen to play 20 leagues over representing their country.

In another case, many of the players continue to play with injuries in the T20 league, so they do not lose out on the money which they earn.

All this is slowly pushing Test cricket in darkness and with audiences also preferring the shortest format over five-day games, the day may not be far away when Test cricket might not even get a seat in the international calendar.

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