Former England captain Andrew Strauss has issued a dire warning for the future of Test cricket, saying he fears it could “fizzle out”.
Strauss made his gloomy forecast in the paperback edition of his autobiography, Driving Ambition, published Thursday.
In it the former opening batsman, who led England to Ashes victory in both 2009 and again in 2010/11 in Australia, highlighted the revamp of the International Cricket Council – on whose cricket committee he now sits – and the rise of lucrative Twenty20 tournaments such as the Indian Premier League as the biggest threats to Test matches.
Cricket’s three wealthiest nations – India, England and Australia – now effectively run the ICC, cricket’s global governing body, between them.
Should a new television rights deal be concluded, the trio and in particular India – already the richest of the three cricket boards on account of the massive commercial marketplace generated by the huge following for the sport in the world’s second-most populous country – will become even wealthier.
Strauss believes this will create an increasing number of lopsided matches, in turn speeding the demise of Test cricket.
“India can argue that they bring the most money into the game, and thus deserve more out of the precious ICC broadcasting rights, but skewing the distribution of the three boards that are already the most financially secure can only create a situation in which the rich get richer and the poor poorer,” Strauss wrote.