Freddie suggests cutting down on amount of test cricket

Public will decide the future of Test cricket

England all rounder Andrew Flintoff has advocated the need to cut down the number of Test matches being played to save the charm of the traditional format of the game.

"We have seen in the past few years what it means to people and we have to preserve that for the good of the game and the tradition behind it because it is a great format.

"The one thing we need to do to continue to maintain Test cricket as being special is cutting down the amount and make it a real occasion rather than playing one after another," Flintoff opined.

Flintoff, who will quit Test cricket after the ongoing Ashes series but will continue playing the other two formats, said it will be up to fans whether to see Test cricket or not.

"The public will decide the future of Test cricket. If people turn out to watch Twenty20 and not Test cricket then it could happen. In England we need to maintain the appeal it has," he told the Independent.

Flintoff also said that T20 format need to be handled carefully so that it does not harm Test cricket.

"It was interesting coming here today and asking the kids what form of cricket they like best. They like the glitz and glamour of Twenty20 but maybe Twenty20 could have a knock-on effect so that players start with it and then work out how to play the longer form. So it could have a positive effect but it's going to have to be handled very delicately," he said.

IMO no. of tests being played nowadays is about right.

Fred should STFU, else he looks a bit of a bandwagonist having just retired from Test Cricket to concentrate on that T20 sh!t.

I think Freddy is making a personal point inspired by his retirement. He has a point though when he says; tests need to remain a special event.
The only three countries that still have full stadia during tests are Australia, England and to some extent India (dwindling fast). I still maintain all three formats have their right of existence with varying degrees of spectator excitement. However, I believe T20s will lose their attraction and competitiveness, if tests become extinct. In spite of what that a/h Modi says, T20s are the tail of the animal called cricket.

jim rich wrote:I think Freddy is making a personal point inspired by his retirement. He has a point though when he says; tests need to remain a special event.
The only three countries that still have full stadia during tests are Australia, England and to some extent India (dwindling fast). I still maintain all three formats have their right of existence with varying degrees of spectator excitement. However, I believe T20s will lose their attraction and competitiveness, if tests become extinct. In spite of what that a/h Modi says, T20s are the tail of the animal called cricket.

When does Australia have full stadia?

Wanderers was pretty good last time round. Oh, but wait.....

Depends on the opposition. Yeah, right..........

We have bigger grounds.

Yeah, it's a bit unreasonable to cane Australia for not filling the MCG every day.

It's a very good point about T20 being the tail of the game. Players gain an international reputation through Test cricket first and foremost - or Mohammed Kaif and Dimi Mascarenhas would be world superstars.

T20 does attract young kids to the longer form of the game, and there are lots of people who just instinctively prefer it anyway. One day cricket was thriving when I was growing up, but I preferred Tests. Most of us here feel the same.

There does need to be an avoidance of Test cricket being a treadmill, but I do suspect that T20 is in the first flushes of youth and enthusiasm, which will diminish over time. It'll hurt ODIs most of all.

Shoeshine wrote:Yeah, it's a bit unreasonable to cane Australia for not filling the MCG every day.

That's why I keep saying that the stupid Boxing Day game should be cancelled.

skully wrote:Fred should STFU, else he looks a bit of a bandwagonist having just retired from Test Cricket to concentrate on that T20 sh!t.

Word. If he hadn't been smashing himself up for years trying to prepare for these games, he'd have had a point.

The excess weight he's often carried must place great stress on the joints when you're bowling at his pace. He's definitely shortened his career in the longer form of the game with his extra-curricula activities.

Red - has Sheephead talked to your girl?

Red wrote:The excess weight he's often carried must place great stress on the joints when you're bowling at his pace. He's definitely shortened his career in the longer form of the game with his extra-curricula activities.

Red. You are a fool. Since 2002, Flintoff has been mostly muscle. He does gym work 4 times a week. He hasn't ''often'' carried excess weight. Have you even seen him play since 2002?

Red wrote:The excess weight he's often carried must place great stress on the joints when you're bowling at his pace. He's definitely shortened his career in the longer form of the game with his extra-curricula activities.

What excess weight? The bloke is built like a wall.

Not extra, but its still a lot of weight.

About 12 tests a year for everyone except Bangladesh should be made the norm.

Reads good to me.

In 1987, England hosted Pakistan, and there were three ODIs and five tests. That was all. And it felt right.

Henry wrote:

Red wrote:The excess weight he's often carried must place great stress on the joints when you're bowling at his pace. He's definitely shortened his career in the longer form of the game with his extra-curricula activities.

Red. You are a fool. Since 2002, Flintoff has been mostly muscle. He does gym work 4 times a week. He hasn't ''often'' carried excess weight. Have you even seen him play since 2002?

Isn't muscle heavier than fat?

Can someone confirm that Botham, in 1981, did more work in Test cricket than Flintoff did in 2005?

Cut down on Tests.

Qunt.

He deserves to come steaming in with the new vall inhis hand for the first ball of Australia's first innings in the next Test, get into his delivery stride, only for his dodgy knee to collapse beneath him, at right angles to the normal hinge action of the knee and never play any form of the game again.

Or get hit by a bus on his way in.

Or have a huge hole open up as he's running in to swallows him whole.

You get the idea, I'm sure.

Yes, but after the Ashes, please.

Dunno, a huge hole swallowing things up may well improve the surrounds at Edgbaston.

G.Wood wrote:

Henry wrote:

Red wrote:The excess weight he's often carried must place great stress on the joints when you're bowling at his pace. He's definitely shortened his career in the longer form of the game with his extra-curricula activities.

Red. You are a fool. Since 2002, Flintoff has been mostly muscle. He does gym work 4 times a week. He hasn't ''often'' carried excess weight. Have you even seen him play since 2002?

Isn't muscle heavier than fat?

true...Fat Fredalo is at least 20k over weight...this has added to to his injury woes...having to carry 20k of pork pies plus the english tourists nearly killed him in the 06/07 humiliation

He juggernauted your lot last time tho, Hoz

had to happen some time pcs