Tym Glaser

TWENTY/20 cricket won't kill Test cricket; the longest version of the game will do that all on its own.

If you had the misfortune to watch day three of the final Test between hosts India and Australia last week in Nagpur, you would know exactly what I mean.

The Aussies, down 1-0 in the series and needing a victory to retain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, resumed the day at a comfortable 189-2 and, for all intents and purposes, had a great platform to build a big first innings lead chasing India's 441.

However, the Australian batsmen went into snooze mode and compiled all of 166 runs in a full day's play. That's three sessions, folks; 85.4 overs or, to break it down even further, about 1.95 runs an over - even Geoff Boycott would puke over a rate that slow.

Takes two to tango

Of course, it takes two to tango - or slow waltz, and Indian skipper Mahendra Dhoni more than played his part by setting an ultra-defensive field which saw eight men loitering in the offside for much of the day.

Still, Mahendra didn't need to win the match, just not lose it. The Aussies had to win but showed a stunning lack of enterprise unfamiliar to a world of cricket which has been used to the team in the baggy green caps racking up at least four runs an over consistently for the last decade or so.

To cap it all off the next day, the Australians got themselves into such a knot with their turgid over rate that instead of pushing to wrap up the Indian tail after tea with the hosts teetering at 166-6, skipper Ricky Ponting went for his spinners and part-time trundlers to pick up the rate and avoid a fine and possible suspension.

Wriggle off the hook

That canny move allowed India to wriggle off the hook, reach 295 and ultimately bowl out a lacklustre Australia on the final day for a 2-0 series victory.

All of this played out in a vast stadium populated by a crowd so small it would make the organiser of a curry-goat match blush with embarrassment.

Sure, Australia have lost some of their lustre with the retirements of legends Glenn McGrath, Shane Warne and Adam Gilchrist but they are still, ostensibly, the No. 1 team in the world - ain't that worth at least one day off work to watch?

Perhaps not any more, and particularly if teams take the approaches adopted by Australia and India in the final Test.

The harsh reality of the Test game is that the matches only sell out in Australia and England nowadays.

Maybe, sometime in the future, the Test game will be pared down to just the two original sides who will battle it out in an anachronistic Ashes series while the rest of the world gets on with ODIs and 20/20s which make more money and attract more fans.

I sincerely hope not but that last Test in Nagpur didn't exactly send my hopes soaring.

Later …

tym.glaser@gleanerjm.com