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Andrew Strauss has voiced his concerns for the future of Test cricket, predicting that Twenty20 could dominate the landscape within 20 years.

Quote: "I have to admit that I become more and more concerned about the plight of Test cricket every year," Strauss admits. "Watching a Test match between the West Indies and New Zealand in an empty stadium with no more than a handful of spectators in attendance sends out warning signals. Seeing that the viewing figures for a county Twenty20 game rival those for a Test match adds to the growing perception that Test cricket is in crisis.

With only ten teams playing Test cricket and four of those already struggling to stay competitive, the risk of the game degenerating to the extent that the result of many Test series is a foregone conclusion is both high and real."

"It is not a huge stretch of the imagination to see a situation in which most players will be contracted to franchises and play the majority of their cricket in the Twenty20 format," Strauss concludes. "It will not happen for a while , as the international boards will do everything in their power to prevent it, but market forces are likely to win the battle in the long term. In twenty years, the game of cricket will look very different."


http://www.espncricinfo.com/england/cont...86537.html

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