Ian Baker - Pink balls and floodlights are not the way forward

01 Apr 2010 - 11:22:09

This week cricket took another step away from its roots.

Pink balls and floodlights were the name of the game as the traditional English season opener between MCC and the county champions (Durham) took place a fortnight earlier than usual a million miles away from Lord's.

The Shekih Zayed Stadium is at least 25 miles from Abu Dhabi in the middle of the desert. You have to drive through dirt tracks to even reach it! And there were more journalists than spectators watching the game.

There has certainly been plenty of criticism of the pink ball so far as cricket's authorities look to complete with Lalit Modi's Indian Premier League.

Modi recently claimed that unless Test cricket goes to a day-night affair, it will die. I somehow doubt that. Even in India, where fans have been mesmerised by Twenty20 cricket, spectators still turned out in their thousands for the recent Test series against South Africa.

English and Australian fans still see Test cricket as the pinnacle but it is time the five day game fought back.

The longer form is purer - it is a game for batsmen and bowlers, not purely the run scorers. It can also be seen as a metaphor for life. Sometimes you need to be cautious, sometimes you need to be brave, sometimes you need to be calm.

In Twenty20 it is wham, bam, thank you mam. The crowds (certainly in Asia where it has been ridiculously over-hyped) are thrilled by it at the moment. But 20-over cricket will almost certainly have its lifespan. Six sixes in an over will suddenly become the norm - and where's the fun in all that? Where's the novelty factor? It will have worn off soon.

Cricket has a beautiful thing in terms of Test cricket. There is nothing wrong with it. The authorities need to believe that. It may need to be better marketed and all that. But they should not try to change a game that has worked well for hundreds of year just because its hyperactive little brother has been born.

There is absolutely no need for pink balls or floodlights. Respect the traditions or the game will lose its self-respect.

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Reader Comments

• Sombit Mondal (01 Apr 2010, 19:10)

  With due respect to Ian Baker, i think that his tradionalist outlook on cricket and others for the matter, does not really help the game at all. He says, t20 is all wham bam six fiesta and nothing for the bowlers, but sir do you actually watch all t20 games to make that comment. The two seasons of the ipl, especially the last one in south africa, actually favoured the bowlers as much as the batsmen(if not even more). T20 is the future of cricket, no doubt about. For the game to spread in the US and China t20 is the way to go. Do you really expect a 5 day match which ends up in draws more than often to spread around the world? But i do agree test cricket is the ultimate format. For test cricket to survive, however you need innovations but not pink balls for god's sake. The problem lies in the boring draws and the ICC must see to that. The only format to die in the hands of t20 are the ODIs, and i might even add that t20 should replace the World Cup. I see no point in continuing the 50 over game. The beauty of t20 is that even if you fall you can recover quickly and this leads to close games which is absent in the other formats. The way to the future is to look forward.

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