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Originally Posted by Ste
There's no disputing that test cricket is the pinnacle of the game
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In England, test cricket is certainly still the pinnacle of the game - and that's shown by relative attendances at test/one-day/20-20 matches.
But else where in the world its different. In the 1980s in India (according to Ian Botham, my bible on all that is cricket!) grounds would be packed to the rafters for test cricket, with amazing atmospheres. Same, to a lesser extent, in the West Indies.
Now, test match grounds there are all but empty, with the barmy army forming most of the crowds in the Caribbean. For one-dayers and 20-20, the locals jampack themselves into the grounds. More so in India than elsewhere.
I'd say we're different because, fundamentally, we have the ashes series. Other countries don't have a test series that can compare to that (though aye, SA vs australia is an 'important' series).
So I'd say only England, Australia and South Africa (maybe new zealand, don't know much about that) still consider test cricket the pinnacle of the game for the past 5-10yrs. And sadly, its India with the population of ~1 billion, not England!
[also I don't buy the whole "indian people are poor, they can't afford to go to 5days of cricket" when they could so emphatically in years gone by. The increase in ticket prices don't account for it! They just plain and simply, prefer the short format of the game. Same for the windies.]
CRICKET IS DOOMED I TELL YOU!
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Noone new is coming through who will ever be as popular as Dravid, Laxman, Ganguly and Tendulkar.
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woah! Virender Sehwag dude! He's easily more popular than those others except, obviously, Tendulkar. That said, just checked, sehwag is 30! so not exactly a young fledgling, but still lots of time left in him. Some of the records he has are awe-inspiring (eg, 300 off 278 balls against south africa). To be honest, India are looking pretty strong - although no one will replace tendulkar, and no doubt in india it will hinder most young batsmen just like the legacy of ian botham has hindered all-rounders in England.