The West Indies begin their latest series against Australia in Brisbane today (last night eastern Caribbean time) to a backdrop of growing concern about the future of Test cricket and their role in it.
On the same Gabba ground where, 49 years ago, the two teams fought out Test cricket’s first tie and rekindled dwindling interest in a game foundering through dull, defensive play, only two-thirds of the now ultra-modern stadium would be open as officials expected no more than 15,000 spectators in a sporting facility that holds 40,000.
It is as much a reflection of a global trend as the woes of West Indies cricket that, over the past decade, has lost its once unrivalled appeal in Australia.
Stadiums in Ahmedabad and Nagpur that used to be packed for Tests have been less than half full for the first two matches of the current series between India and Sri Lanka.
There has only been a sprinkling of spectators for the first two days of the first Test between New Zealand and Pakistan in Dunedin.
Australian newspapers yesterday referred to the present West Indies team under Chris Gayle as “ramshackle” (the Age) and “shambolic” (the Australian) and inferred that interest had been diminished by the expectation of a one-sided contest.
At odds of 18-1, the West Indies are reportedly the biggest outsiders ever in a Test in Australia.
Both Gayle and Australian captain Ricky Ponting did not try to mask the problems facing Test cricket in their pre-match media conferences.
Ponting put much of the blame on the standard of the pitches.
Gayle, who caused an uproar during the West Indies tour of England last May when he said in a newspaper interview that he preferred the Twenty20 format to Tests and that he would “not be sad” of Test cricket faded away, believed it had much to do with lack of performance in the West Indies case.
Ponting returned to his oft-repeated complaint against the docility of pitches around the world.
“I think it is one of the big reasons around the world why people aren’t turning up to watch Test cricket,” he said. “When it was at its most exciting, it was about three or four fast bowlers and lots of bouncers and hook shots. The hostility between bat and ball was one of the most attractive things about Test cricket.”
“Quite often now a lot of the wickets around the world are very similar,” he added. “Scoring rates are high and probably too high. There is not that real tough contest between fast bowler and batsmen that I would like to see … that has a lot to do with the spectacle of Test cricket.”
The Gabba pitch should be closer to Ponting’s ideal for it was expected to have pace and bounce.
Gayle believed that once the West Indies perform “then we will actually get the support and the crowds back in the stands.”
They have rapidly plunged from the strongest and most entertaining team in world cricket throughout the 1980s to bottom of the pile of the International Cricket Council (ICC) ratings, above only Bangladesh.
Suggestions for a Test championship of two divisions are gaining ground. It would mean the West Indies reduced to the second tier.
“Definitely, Caribbean people still have the passion for whatever cricket we play out there and they are very supportive when we go out there and get the job done,” Gayle said.
“Sometimes, when these things don’t happen, we get beaten and cursed but that is part of the game. We are just trying to play our part and give the fans something to cheer about.”
When asked whether he was committed to Tests, he quipped: “Yeah, that’s why I come to the press conference in my white clothes.”
But he did not shy away from the situation in which Test cricket finds itself.
“You look at what is happening now, it is no secret,” he said. “I can’t come and say Test cricket is going to die and then basically it just will happen, just like that. It’s just how things have been progressing for the last couple of months. Spectators haven’t turned out, so they are more drawn to the coloured clothing at this point in time.’‘
Ponting was philosophical about his team’s role.
“All we can do is try to play the best cricket we can and make it as entertaining for everyone who is there watching as we possibly can,” he said. “I think there will be a reasonable turnout tomorrow. If there is not, we’ll try to put on the best show we can.”
