Lets not forget the commentators who insist in talking about the over ball by ball, instead of making an effort to make it truly entertaining.

While saying that they noticed that the batsmen was bowled is an interesting achievement in itself, and crucial for radio commentary, when one watches the wicket oneself, its not required as much, as lets say "Well, Z was just bowled by Y, after playing a shoddy shot, its the first time he's managed to take Smith's wicket, although Smith has had a harsh time of beating a devlivery along that line and length in the past. Bringing to mind another batsman who also struggled, X, who had a good time of things in general, but battled against bowlers from the subcontinent."

Commentators for TV shouldnt be there to state whats happened, they should be there to provide analysis, technical expertise, and anecdotes, especially as cricket is a slower paced game than Rugby Union, where the commentators are required to be able to know the obscure rulin

maybe, just maybe, better pitches?

Well written article,Michael.One of the biggest culprits of not completing their overs quota in a day is my home team India.Dhoni always maintains a poor over rate.I think in Nagpur against Australia in 2008 India bowled 20 overs in the pre-lunch session on 5th day.Another thing is the scheduling.Places like Nagpur and Mohali gets so many test matches because it is the home of current BCCI president and a powerful BCCI member irrespective of poor turnouts.And less said about the facilities in the stadiums the better.But the biggest concern is the state of pitches.We haven't had a green wicket for a while.UDRS is a must for International cricket and sooner than later India has to use it.We also miss the HOTSPOT in our viewing rooms during home series.And Barmy Army are the best supporters of any sports team in the world.

I think test cricket is becoming more and more like a collector's item. You don't use it, you just keep it in the showcase. Being an Indian, I want India to win the Border Gavaskar Trophy and retain the No 1 Ranking and of course win against SA too in the coming series, but I am not gonna sit in front of TV watching it whole day. Reading commentary on cricinfo is enough for me. As far as going to the stadium is concerned, I think it is not at all an enjoyable proposition in subcontinent. Bad infrastructure is enough a reason to keep most people out. On top of it courtsey the idiots with dynamite in hand and rocks in the head, security checks have to be so strict, we can't even take a keychain inside. I guess only solution for BCCI to fill up stadiums is to give matches only to major cities with huge population base like delhi, mumbai, kolkata, chennai, blore instead of following stupid rotation system. Nagpur, Mohali, Ahemadabad etc are never gonna have a fullhouse for a test match.

Well said Foxy!
The correct decision is the key with technology - it's not like an lbw review takes a long time.

Remember playing against you when you were a pro at Marchwiel and we (The Chameleons) were on tour - yonks ago. I think we got thrashed!

Michael,

For me you have missed the main point as to why Test cricket is struggling. This main point is that there is no longer a valid contest between bat and ball. Batsman have everything in their favour. I have no problem with that from time to time, but not for every Test match.

The Gabba test was a disaster because it was played on a farce of a wicket. There was no pace in the wicket, no bounce. The wicket got flatter and flatter. To get a valid result without declarations would have taken 8 or 9 days. This is not Test cricket. To watch batsman score heavily day in and day out is not entertaining. I want a contest. I want to see early wickets in matches, I want to see batting collapses, and occasionally I want to see a champion batsman make a hundred.
These days a Test century is easy to obtain for a Test batsman.

For me I believe most State batsman would score a Test hundred if given the chance to play 5 Tests. It should not be this easy.

One thing that should go is the drinks break. It seems every over there is a multitude of support staff rushing out drinks, etc to everyone on the field. Why do we need a drinks break at all under these circumstances?

But I don't think all this time wasting is causing the lack of crowds - it's a combination of the cost and the fact that it's a whole day gone. People are only interested in things that take a couple of hours at the most these days...

The reason for the UDRS is to have correct decisions, if that is not happening, it is not an argument to let the on-field umpires continue making bad decisions, it is an argument to either get rid of lbw decisions from the game entirely, or to make close lbw's decisions always referred to third umpire, like we do to decide in case of close run-outs, catches that are inconclusive, and when we cannot determine if any part of the bowler touched the rope when he collected the ball and threw it in. you cannot genuinely expect anyone to take much interest in a game where in every innings at least two decisions are 'wrong'. even the commentators only say whether the decision is 'good' or 'bad' as opposed to 'right' or 'wrong' to protect the umpires. if there are not rules to protect players, why should there be rules to protect umpires?

Hello Michael, long time no see.

There were decent crowds at the Gabba, though some was owed to the Barmy predilection for touring Australia. The Gabba is like air travel these days: modestly comfortable but herded and cramped. We locals yearn for the more open ground, with fig trees and fibro seats. Funnily enough the Gabba crowds have never been loyal, so I fear again next year we'll miss out on the big match and share NZ with Hobart and Perth will feast on the Indian maestros.

Graeme Orr

Test cricket still has a healthy attendance in some of the Indian venues - Chennai, Bombay, Kolkata and Bangalore. The othet grounds where people dont bother to turn up need not really be allowed to host test matches ...

Besides, the pitches ... the horrible pitches favoring batathons in India absolutely destory the game. A vicious turner is a much better option than flat wickets, and really if Aussies, Kiwis, England, SA etc can prepare fast bowling friendly pitches, there is no reason why India cant make turners that actually produce results and makes for interesting cricket.

More than anything else, it is the flat tracks that are killing test catch cricket in India. BCCI needs to realize that the game is called cricket, not batting. There has to be some balance between the bat and ball if someone is going to watch it over 5 days.

Thanks for the comments. Great to see some old friends making contact via this medium. That's the beauty of social cricket - no one remembers the scores but we remember old friends.