Questions & Answers

December 9, 2017 by neil manthorp

Q — Is four-day Test crick­et the way for­ward? The Zim Test has a feel­ing of ‘false­ness’ about it…

A – Most changes to the game have a ‘gimmicky’ feel about them ini­tial­ly, and the vast major­i­ty of pub­lic opin­ion is inevitably against them. Human nature. Instinc­tive­ly I would pre­fer Tests to remain at five days but, logis­ti­cal­ly, it makes so much sense to move to four days with more overs per day. A three-Test series could then be played in three weeks with each match start­ing on Thurs­day and fin­ish­ing on Sun­day. Inter­na­tion­al fix­tures are being squeezed hard­er and hard­er by domes­tic T20 leagues so chang­ing the Test for­mat may be a way to save them. I’d rather have four days of Test crick­et than none. And I’d rather see three four day Tests than two five day Tests. We’ll get used to it.

Q — Where does AB fit back into the Test XI? And should he walk straight back in after almost a year away from Test cricket?

A – Good ques­tion, and one that I don’t believe any­body has the answer to at the moment. Yes, of course he should slot straight back in. Ottis Gib­son may have ruf­fled a few selec­to­r­i­al feath­ers when he said that, if AB and Dale Steyn look him in the eyes and say ‘I’m ready’ then they will play. But they are the excep­tion­al play­ers of their gen­er­a­tion and if they are fit then they play. No ques­tion. It is no secret that Faf du Plessis is strug­gling to be fit in time for the Box­ing Day Test so that might be a sim­ple, short-term solu­tion. Long term I sus­pect Quin­ton de Kock might move back to sev­en with four spe­cial­ist bowlers play­ing rather than an all rounder at six or seven.