Two Test Match Policy
Written by: Shareez
Loading ...Sri Lanka after being rated as one of the top teams in the world, still gets the step motherly treatment when it comes to test series.The Lions are gonna play two test matches later this year down under and I totally disagree with this two test policy.
After all India will be in Australia soon and India has been allocated four test matches. Is this the result we’re getting from ICC after all these successes? Currently Sri Lanka plays better cricket than the Indians and still the Indians get more opportunities than us. The fact remains the same when it comes to the West Indies. They just won their first match against Bangladesh in the super8’s and they are ranked on the bottom of the ICC rankings. Yet they will play four to five test matches against the teams like Australia, England and South Africa.
I personally believe for any International team there should be at least three test matches in a series. In this case if you play two test matches and if you lost the first the best result you can get is to level the series. The recently concluded New Zealand series is one example. Sri Lanka lost to the kiwis in the first and came back strongly in the second. if they would have played the third who knows? It should have been an away series win for the Lankans.
If you take the famous 2005 Ashes series England were well beaten against the Aussies at Lords. But they came back to level the series with a magnificent two run win. The third was drawn and still they had two more matches in the series and even after three matches the series could go to either side. England led the series 2-1 after the fourth match and going in to the fifth test Australia got another crack to level the series which ended in a draw and England ultimately won it 2-1 after loosing the first.
So why aren’t Sri Lankan cricketers getting this opportunity. Sri Lanka have already proved to the entire cricket world that they’re one of the top sides in the world. They boast many Test world records such as the highest innings total (952/6 against India in 1997), top two highest partnerships (624 Sangakkara and Jayawardena against South Africans in 2006 and 576 Jayasuriya and Mahanama against India in 1997) to name a few. They also have one of the best all time bowlers in Muralitharan.
I think the time has now come where the authorities behind Sri Lankan cricket to raise their voices and concerns to the ICC to treat the Sri Lankan cricketers with a little bit of respect when it comes to this matter.
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3 Responses to “Two Test Match Policy”
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you are right. we should get three match test series. that is what we deserve no less.
however one of the main problems is the lack ( or alleged lack of ) of financial benefit. basically market for sri lanka vs.test matches is small. this may not be completely true, but there is some truth in it. that is why it is important for instance that our broadcasters buy the tv rights for those tests so that there is some reward to hosting cricket board . but our last english test series was not telecast here. to make them buy we should watch and provide and audience for their ads. and that will in the end depend on performance. hopefully our recent form ( and world cup success) will encourage that
all this may seem unconnected to the sport. but this is the way modern sports operate.
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on a different note, one of the things we tend to forget is that australians were generally better at giving us tests than others from the first. while english restricted us to one-off tests and west indians refused point blank to play all, australians gave us tests in 80s and 90s( including the infamous 1995 test series). we have to give them that, even though we should have got tests from everyone by rights.
definitely.. we get 2 test series like ban and zim.. while wi whose been doing so bad recently gets 5-match series… The only problem is i think the SL board wants more ODIs and less Tests.. too bad we dont get to see as much real cricket
Ya, ur rite!
If you notice, India always get the premier venues like sydney, melbourne, adelaide, where the spinner’s can thrive, but faster pitches such as the gabba, hobart are more difficult for sl, and that’s what we always get!
At least we got these 2 stadia this time, last time, we got darwin and cairns, which was totally disgraceful because no team except bangaldesh had played an int. match before, and those stadia are used for Aussie Rules Football!