LONDON: Nasser Hussain believes England’s quick-fire win over West Indies in the first Test highlights the crossroads at which the sport’s longest format currently stands.
An innings win by 114 runs was secured barely an hour into the third day at Lord’s. The tourists have played just one three-day warm-up match, with most of the squad having had no other red-ball cricket since an eight-run win over Australia in Brisbane in January.
Ahead of the second Test at Trent Bridge, Nasser was open about concerns that the ever-expanding cricket calendar meant teams were unable to properly prepare for red-ball matches, which in turn was hurting the game.
“Those two days for me summed up where we are with Test cricket,” Hussain told the Sky Sports Cricket Podcast.
“You talk about all the batsmen they could have but they fly off into the sunset with the white ball, you have bowlers who haven’t bowled, you have undercooked cricketers and then you lose the toss and you have the worst.” conditions and everyone says “Test cricket is dying”, but when you prepare for a Test match like that, you get exactly what England get when they leave.
“It frustrates me because you have to give Test matches the preparation they deserve, which is very easy to say but very difficult to do in the modern era.”
Meanwhile, former England captain Michael Atherton shed light on the importance by citing the example of James Anderson
“Anderson said: ‘Test cricket literally made me the person I am’,” Atherton said. “So all the lessons he picked up from Test cricket – the ups, downs, ups, downs, coming back for the third spell at six o’clock in the evening and having to dig deep within yourself.”
“All those things that have made him the mature person he is, Test cricket has helped him along the way.
“I wanted to ask him about that because it’s at a tender time, he’s going to step into a mentor role and you would hope because there are young players coming in now who will have a career choice to make.
On the other hand, Nasser emphasized that the problems are not only for the West Indies, but also for England, which has failed in the Caribbean and most recently in India.
“The other story is ‘West Indies in terminal decline’ – England haven’t won in the Caribbean for two decades and [West Indies] hold the Richard-Botham Trophy,” Hussain said.
“England travel to India or Australia and they don’t do very well, so it shouldn’t just be a West Indies story. All it does is the fact that Test-match cricket is in a difficult place and it’s a bit self-perpetuating.
“If you don’t take care of that, then sides will turn around and put in a performance like that and everyone will say, ‘I told you Test match cricket is dying’,” he added.
