Test cricket has lost its competitive edge as lop-sided games increase

The beauty of Test cricket was always in its competitiveness. Teams were pit in a mental battle that tested their resilience and temperament and this produced five-day games that would bring out the best team eventually. 2019 has been a tad different, though, and we are increasingly witnessing two tiers among the top Test nations.

India, New Zealand and Australia have clearly dominated Test cricket in recent times although Australia continue to come behind England and South Africa in the rankings. India and New Zealand are firmly at the top with 120 and 109 rating points.

At Seddon Park, New Zealand and England engaged in a drab drawn game, but that has been an aberration. Drawn matches have been such a rarity with hosts seeking result-oriented pitches to draw the crowd. This has also resulted in matches getting over rather quickly – within three days a lot of times – but it has resulted in more games producing results.

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Among years with at least 10 Tests, 2019 has seen the least number of draws alongside 1956. What’s even more interesting is that 2016, 2017 and 2018 also feature among years with least drawn games (min 10 Tests) in a year. This indicates a clear paradigm shift towards more result-oriented games.

While no one wants to watch drab draws, the number of matches that go down to the wire has drastically reduced in recent times.

Sample this: of the last nine results in Test cricket across the globe, seven have been won by an innings showing one team has completely dominated the other.

Remember those days gone by......when both sides batted twice in test cricket....

— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) December 2, 2019

But if that is termed an aberration, let’s dig deeper. The last close game in 2019 was England’s thrilling one-wicket over Australia at Leeds in the Ashes. But in fact, that – and Sri Lanka’s win over South Africa in Durban - are the only games in 2019 that was won by 5 wickets or less.

More telling is the fact that not a single game in 2019 was won by 100 runs or less.

Since England’s one-wicket win, the results in Test cricket bear a very one-sided look.

Barring the recent draw at Hamilton, the results have all been extremely one-sided. In the quest to eliminate draws, has Test cricket become too one-sided a game largely favouring one team?

Feature image courtesy: AFP / Dibyangshu Sarkar