"I think it just works better" - Mark Taylor proposes radical solution to save Test cricket
Former Australian captain Mark Taylor has suggested a radical solution to save Test cricket. Taylor believes that teams should play four-day Tests as it allows captains to be "more adventurous."
The pitches in the ongoing India-Australia Test series have sparked outrage as all three matches finished in just over two days. After India won the first two Tests, Australia hit back in the third to pocket it in similar fashion.
In this decade…before the Delhi Test … average per batter for Tests in India was 23. Plummeting further.
If your ‘home’ conditions aren’t allowing batters to gain confidence, it’ll be too much to search for it overseas.
Speaking to Wide World of Sports, Taylor believes cricket must move with the times and believes teams can play four-day Tests after three days off. The 58-year-old said:
"I think cricket should move with the times and bring in four-day Test matches. I think it just works better. Players like to have three days off between games, so four-day Test matches work. You play something like Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, or Friday to Monday, then three days off and then you can do it all again. So, I think it works well and it also puts the onus on skippers to be a little bit more adventurous at times."
The New South Wales opener conceded that high-scoring Tests are never interesting as they lead to boring draws. He continued:
"Loose a bit of time, get a really flat pitch - well declare earlier. We don't need to see 500 runs scored every innings. The best games of cricket have always been where a side makes about 350 and the second side does the same and then you've got a really good contest."
England have resorted to result-oriented games since captain Ben Stokes and coach Brendon McCullum took charge. They managed to eke out results in all three Tests during their series in Pakistan last year, winning it comprehensively.
"It was very poor" - Mark Taylor on Indore's pitch
Taylor also agreed with the ICC's assessment of rating the Indore pitch used for the India-Australia Test as poor, as tracks should not be exploding from day one. He added:
"It was very poor. I think that was a very kind conclusion drawn by the ICC. When you go to India you expect to play on low, slow turning pitches - that's been the case for as long as I've known the game of cricket and there's nothing wrong with that. It's the way you expect to play in India. But you don't expect the ball to go through the surface of the pitch on day one and that's what happened."
The pitch for the third #INDvAUS Test has been deemed as “poor” under the ICC Pitch and Outfield Monitoring Process.
Details ⬇️
icc-cricket.com/news/3091719
Apart from a poor rating, the venue also received three demerit points for producing a lopsided pitch.