England all-rounder Ben Stokes on Tuesday (May 28) opposed the idea of tinkering with Test cricket, saying the traditional format remains the pinnacle and any rule change will make it ‘easy cricket’.
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There has been a lot of debate around the future of Test cricket with declining attendance at stadiums, especially in the sub-continent.
Earlier this year, it was reported that the International Cricket Council (ICC) is mulling over trimming Tests to four days from five for the 2023-2031 World Test Championship cycle. The idea behind this thought process was to free up the calendar to accommodate more commercially lucrative white-ball cricket.
“For me Test cricket is the pinnacle. There’s been a lot of talk recently about Test cricket dying, but I don’t know where that comes from,” Stokes said during a chat with New Zealand spinner Ish Sodhi at the Royals Podcast.
“You ask all the players who, or maybe not all the players, but I know the likes of Virat (Kohli) and (Joe) Root have spoken about how Test cricket is where you really get tested.
“It’s where you find out what you’re really about as a cricketer and for me it is the purest form of the sport. It has to stay around, it would be a sad, sad day if Test cricket was changed. If they are going to change the rules, I think they should call it easy cricket,” he added.
Recently, Stokes became the first England cricketer since 2005 to be named as Wisden's leading cricketer in the world. He was integral to England's maiden 50-over World Cup victory last year and also helped his team draw the home Ashes series with an iconic knock of 135 not out at Headingley.
“In England, 2019 will always be remembered for cricket. I feel that it eclipsed 2005 in terms of what we managed to do for the sport. 2005 was massive, it was a long time ago but it took cricket (in this country) to a whole new level, but I think we managed to take it to another level here,” Stokes remarked.
Asked about the World Cup final triumph at Lord’s over New Zealand on the basis of boundaries count, the ace all-rounder said: “Sky Sports recently showed a ball-by-ball replay actually, just being able to look back on something like that which we will never be able to take away from ourselves. It’s common knowledge that the World Cup was a four-year journey of completely turning around the ODI format thinking for us after the 2015 World Cup, which was a disaster... not my words!”
Reflection on the Headingly Ashes Test, Stokes said: “Yeah, that was a good day! It was a bizarre Test match to be involved in given how it went up and down, getting bowled out for 60 and then being so far behind in the game. Being written off as a team, to everyone saying we had a chance on day four, to come out on top in that game was brilliant.”
(With IANS inputs)
