Nasser Hussain believes England’s quickfire victory over the West Indies in the first Test shows the crossroads the sport’s longest format finds itself at.
The innings and 114-run win was wrapped up barely an hour into the third day at Lord’s, with the tourists having played just one three-day game in preparation and the majority of the squad having played no other red-ball cricket since the eight-run win over Australia in Brisbane in January.
Ahead of the second Test at Trent Bridge, which starts on Thursday live on Sky Sports, former England captain Hussain expressed his concern that the ever-expanding cricket calendar means teams are not able to prepare properly for red-ball matches which in turn is damaging the game.
“Those two days summed up for me where we are with Test cricket,” Hussain told the Sky Sports Cricket Podcast.
“You talk about all the batting they could have but they’re off in a white-ball sunset, you’ve got bowlers who haven’t bowled, you’ve got undercooked cricketers, and then you lose the toss and have the worst of conditions, and everyone goes ‘Test cricket is dying’, but if you prepare for a Test match like that you’ll get exactly what England get when they go away.
“It frustrates me because you’ve got to give Test matches the preparation that they deserve, which is a very easy thing to say but a very difficult thing to do in modern times.”
Those views were echoed by fellow former England skipper and Sky Sports Cricket expert Michael Atherton, who has long been concerned about ensuring T20 franchise cricket does not encroach too much on Test matches.
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Highlights from day three of the first Test at Lord’s as England thrashed West Indies and James Anderson said farewell with a 704th Test wicket.
Atherton highlighted how James Anderson spoke passionately about his love of the longest format following his farewell to international cricket at Lord’s and hopes the man who won 188 Test caps and took 704 wickets will be able to ensure England’s emerging bowling talent sees the value of red-ball cricket in his mentoring role.
“Anderson said, ‘Test cricket has literally made me the person I am’,” said Atherton. “So, all the lessons he’s drawn from Test cricket – the ups, the downs, the highs, the lows, the coming back for that third spell at six o’clock in the evening and having to dig deep within yourself.
“All of the things which have made him the mature person he is, Test cricket has helped him along the way.
“I wanted to ask him about it because it’s at a fragile time, he’s going to move onto a mentoring role and you’d hope, because there are young players coming through now who will have career choices to make.
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Michael Atherton looked back at James Anderson’s incredible career and paid tribute to England’s greatest ever bowler following his retirement from Test cricket.
“You’d like to feel Jimmy would say to them ‘sometimes the easiest choices are not always the most rewarding or most fulfilling’…although everybody needs to pay the bills, one understands that.”
All eyes are now on whether the second Test of the three-match series between England and the West Indies at Trent Bridge will prove to be more competitive, given how the tourists bounced back from a 10-wicket loss against Australia in the first match of their series over the winter.
Hussain is in no doubt the issue is not just specific to the West Indies team either, citing England’s struggles when they toured the Caribbean two years ago and their winter series in India, where they were beaten 4-1.
“The other story is ‘the West Indies are in terminal decline’ – England haven’t won in the Caribbean for two decades and [the West Indies] hold the Richard-Botham Trophy,” Hussain said.
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James Anderson believes England’s fast bowling ranks are in safe hands following his retirement from Test cricket.
“England travel to India or Australia and don’t particularly do well, so it shouldn’t just be a West Indies story. All it does is add to the fact that Test-match cricket is in a difficult place and it is sort of self-perpetuating.
“If you don’t look after it, then sides turn up and put in a performance like that, and everyone goes, ‘Told you, Test-match cricket is dying’.
“Listening to you speaking to Jimmy Anderson after 188 Test matches on the podium, I would like to think we would try to look after Test-match cricket.”
Watch day one of the second Test between England and West Indies, from Trent Bridge in Nottingham, live on Sky Sports Cricket from 10am on Thursday (first ball to be bowled at 11am).
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