South African cricket seems to be in the midst of a changing situation. That is because after the curtailed series against Australia, there is now the prospect of a shortened series against England, leading the England Test captain to believe Test cricket may not be quite safe as previously imagined.
Andrew Strauss
Andrew Strauss is a worried man and it has nothing to do with the fact that England find themselves 2-0 down in the ODI series in India. Rather the England Test captain has been closely following the developments with regard to Test cricket as have ardent Test aficionados and naturally his expression is merely a reflection a concern that several cricket fans and administrators have over the longer format of the sport.
The South Africa Australia series with Australia presenting touring South Africa has already seen the Test series brought down from three to two Tests in order to accommodate the schedule for the Champions League Twenty20 2011. Incidentally both, Cricket South Africa and Cricket Australia have a direct stake in the Championship League Twenty20 like the BCCI.
Now the England South Africa Test series next year, which was billed to be another high profile clash after the India England series, is witnessing a reduction of Tests from five to three. While three Tests in a series seems like a reasonable number, bilateral series and tours usually work around the premise that the Test series are the ultimate prize although credence is lent to the more popular variants that bring in the money – ODIs and Twenty20.
And Andrew Strauss seems worried that Test cricket is losing the battle on the monetary front to the allure of the shorter formats and the idea of curtailing series against strong Test sides such as India, South Africa and Australia is not something that would appeal to Strauss nor to the Test cricket aficionados because a series with two Tests is basically only a farce and the more traditional way of playing Test cricket between teams with four or five Tests holds an enchantment quite unmatched although financially it is Twenty20 now dictating terms even over the ODIs.
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