The evolving balance between long and short formats in cricket

Sandwiched in between T20 competitions in Australia, the UAE, Bangladesh, South Africa, New Zealand and Pakistan are two Test matches between New Zealand and England and four between India and Australia. This is probably the shape of things to come for men’s cricket, a juxtaposition of short and long format cricket, juggled in a finite calendar.

Test cricket’s potential demise is a much-discussed topic. In 2019, the International Cricket Council provided a framework within which to operate. This is the World Test Championship for the top nine Test playing teams, each of whom will play six series — three at home and three away — in a two-year cycle, currently July 2021 to June 2023.

The top two teams will contest a play-off to determine the champions. Australia and India are standing in the top positions, which gives piquancy to their present series. England and New Zealand are out of the running, the series providing an opportunity to regroup. The matches were also played against a background of the damaging physical, social and mental effects of Cyclone Gabrielle.

Remarkably, Mount Maunganui’s Bay Oval, Tauranga, on the northeast coast of New Zealand’s North Island, was fit for the first Test. The venue opened in 2005, hosting its first Test in 2019. Discussions with locals revealed that the land on which the ground is built was waste land that once hosted a BMX circuit.

It lies in the shadows of a salt processing plant and is approached through the outskirts of the Port of Tauranga, not a promising perspective. Once inside, the ground has a different ambience. Most spectators sit on the grassy banks which surround it, broken only by hospitality facilities and a well disguised pavilion. There is village feel, of