Test Cricket Might Be Played by Just 5-6 Teams: Graeme Smith

Test Cricket Might Be Played by Just 5-6 Teams: Former South African captain Graeme Smith echoing Ravi Shastri’s sentiments has claimed that Test Cricket might be down to just five or six teams in the near future.

He felt that Test Cricket has to have competitive teams and those are not going to be 10 or 12 and also that only the big nations are contributing to the longest and the traditional form of the game.

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“With Test cricket, it’s just iconic nations or the big cricketing nations that are contributing to Test cricket at the moment. But as long as we’ve got competitive teams, you’re not going to have 10, 11, 12, 13 or 14 competitive teams. You might only be down to five or six nations that play Test cricket at this level.

“The pressures on nations like New Zealand, West Indies, South Africa to stay financially sustainable to keep up with England, India, and the world game to stay competitive is hugely important,” he was quoted as saying by PTI on Sky.

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However, Smith is not the first one to raise questions over Test cricket’s future. Shastri also said that quality over quantity has to be respected and a few nations playing the longest format will also open windows for other formats and leagues germinating.

“If you want Test cricket to survive you cannot have 10, 12 teams playing. Keep the top six, keep the quality of cricket going and respect quality over quantity. That’s the only way you open up a window for other cricket to be played”, he had said last month. Recently, Proteas pacer Anrich Nortje had also pointed out the stark difference between the number of Test matches England play and the amount they play.

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England, India and Australia, the big three get the biggest piece while New Zealand despite being the World Test champions haven’t gotten a single 4-match series, their only assignment with more than two matches was against England in June.

Source