Can test competitions get even better?

Tony Wadsworth | 15:19 BST 13 August 2025

The recently completed England/India went further than almost everyone’s expectations for a competitive, completely absorbent five games. The commentators roared their approval of the unpredictable twists, the unlikely backs; The sublime skills shown by people like Shubman Gill, KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant, Joe Root and Harry Brook; And the courage of three players who, in turn, perform with a broken finger, a broken football and a disrupted shoulder.

Praise at a high level has been sung over a number of other recent instigreen; And yet this remains a Freudian undertone. There is a fear that test cricket may be doomed – at least in the form we know – with the timing insecure but not far away. Every day of a fascinating test match is accompanied by this fear. The mix of emotions can lead to many cricket enthusiasts being the danger of being overcome by a state of virtual paralysis.

This can very well apply to people like: Married Turbervill, James Coyne, Melinda Farrell and the loyal David Frith van van The cricket player magazine; AE Housmann, a sage bibliophile; Tiana Ealredred, a recent debutant on the cricket website; Former captain of England, Michael Vaughan and his coach Duncan Fletcher; Jon Hotten van The nightwatchman magazine; Former England player and recent commentator Isa Guha; Vishnu Padmanabhan van van The economist magazine; In Ireland, recent international player Clare Shillington; In Australia, Ronald Cardwell and Julee Horan van de Between Wickets magazine; Greg Baum van The age Newspaper in Melbourne; and in New South Wales, the writer of biographical Tomes, Peter Lloyd; In the US, Kylan Watson from the Philadelphia Tribune; Sean Gregory van Time Magazine; In West -India, Vaneisa Baksh; In the teaming city of Lahore with its 14 million inhabitants, sports journalist and commentator Mirza Iqbal Baig; In Sri Lanka, Srian Obeyesekere; In India, former Testluminary eminent commentator Ravi Shastri became; In South Africa, journalist and commentator Natalie Germanos; In China, Saurabh Mukerjee van de Shanghai daily newspaper and Mike Chan van de South -China Morning Post; in Greece, Joseph Nikitas, president of The Hellenic Cricket Federation (based in Corfu); In Kenya, Lameck Onyango former national player and currently the head coach of the ladies’ national team; in Afghanistan, writer Timeri N. Murari; In Zimbabwe, Craig Irvine, the current leader of the National Men’s team; and in South America, Hernán Pereyra, president of the Argentinian cricket association; Although they do not forget that remote South Atlantic Archipelago and Cecil Alexander, captain of the Falkland Island team.

Not all of them during the post-known Pandemic era, 2023 to the present, are fiercely disputed, a number of only weak. And in this respect, it is that I propose a change in the rules of the game to reduce the incidence of one -sided competitions, enjoy spectators and thus reduce the observed existential threat to testing cricket.

Mijn voorstel is om een limiet op te leggen aan het aantal overs dat door beide teams de eerste innings moet worden ontvangen, waardoor dit maximum wordt ingesteld op 100 of 110 – die, meestal – een volledige dag play plus 18 of 28, overs in beslag nemen die nog eens 1 uur en 20 minuten, of 2 uur en 4 minuten, van de afgespeelde tijd, met 13.6 overs per uur worden afgeleverd, met 13.6 overs per uur, met 13.6 overs per uur, met 13.6 overs per hour, with 13.6 overs per hour, with 13.6 overs per hour, with 13.6 overs per hour, with 13.6 13.6 per hour, with 13.6 overs of 13.6 overs from 13.6 overs of 13.6 overs from 13.6 overs, or 2 hours, or 2 hours, or 2 hours, or 13.6, with 13.6, with 13.6, or 13.6, or 13.6, or 13.6, or 13.6, or 13.6, or 13.6, or 13.6, or 13.6, or 13.6, with 13.6, with 13.6, or 2 hours, or 2 hours, or 2 hours, or 2 hours, or 2 hours, or 2 am, or 2 hours, or 2 am, or 2 am, or 2 am, or 2 am, or 2 am, or 2 hours of 13.6.6.6.6.6.6.6.6.6.6.6.6.6.6.6. are delivered with 13.6 overs of 13.6.

To receive these maxima for overs were my intuitive well -trained gamble about what reasonable limits would be to impose on and that is why I tested these “working hypotheses” by investigating their likely impact. This was done by taking the competition results and innovation-perinning statistics for four of the most important test participant team teams from the beginning of 2023 (calendar year) to the present, with a closure at 6^one August. These teams are those of England, Australia, South Africa and India, who are the four largest guns of post-known times.

The focus was on determining, for the first innings of the teams, taken together:

• The part of the competitions won – and how many of these victories have been great (indicated by a margin of 100 plus runs or 6 plus wickets).
• Share losses – and number due to small, moderate and large margins.
• The share of draws as a result of a high score competition and ratio as a result of bad weather.
• Also regarding the victories: number won when you first enter and when you become second.

Findings

In summary:

The proportional findings for the 100 and 110 above limits are very similar, the remarkable differences are a slightly higher percentage of victories and large victories with the first with his expansion of cases by only half.

The details on a conventional spreadsheet are available to the author on request.

A restriction up to 90 overs has not been investigated, just as a test match format is too much like a two-after (two-day) ODI competition.

Consistent effects

The most important impact of both scenarios is that instead of having dominated a high frequency of competitions by one team and a more or less inevitable (or forgotten way) conclusion well before the actual end of the competition, the dullness for spectators (not my experience but I am a “test nut”) would be relieved; And that is why the general level of pleasure that comes from watching the competition would be increased.

This should help to reduce the observed ‘threat’ of the demise of test cricket.

There are a number of other, useful consequences that must be recognized:

• With five days planned game, and no restriction on the number of overs received, there is no pressure on the side that first goes in to score with more than about 3.3 points at a time, unless the team was on the back in the series. For the average number of overs that were received with the 41 cases investigated that are 123 per team of innings (when 100 overs are reached or exceeded), this means a team of 405 runs. This lack of pressure can easily cause an ultra -conservative approach to Batting.

Note that from the beginning of 2022 to the end of 2024, the other eight test countries next to England, taken together, beaten in that reasonably relaxed (average) percentage of 3.3 points per lake – equal to 55 runs per 100 deliveries.

• Tickets for soil access to view the game on day 1 may as a result be less demand.

• The workload and stress on fast bowlers – with long run -up and high energy – would be more manageable and extend the span of their cricket career.
• The costs of test matches in England are now between 90 and 160 pounds. This is expensive in someone’s budget! What money must therefore be a consideration.
• Ultimately, the sales value of broadcasting rights can be a problem if receiving overs remains unlimited! Since this is what professional cricket applies all over the world, this must also be considered.
• Spectator pleasure via TV and on the ground must be of the utmost importance.

Conclusion:

• There is no significant difference between the two proposals, although I have a moderately strong preference for the 100 over -restriction.
• Most rules and regulations of the game exist to impose fines for certain actions. However, this proposed provision would be certain, as specified, situations that occur and would reward an attractive cricket for the benefit of the spectators on the ground and television. While at the same time a contribution makes to the survival of this “Pinnacle” format of the game.