Re: Round-table discussion: Fifty-over cricket breeds mediocrity
Good topic, though the Cricinfo title and discussion are somewhat misleading. Two different issues, IMO - first, does 50-over cricket (or 20-over cricket for that matter) breed mediocrity in test cricket, and second, the question of balance between ball and bat.
On the first one, I am a hardcore fan of test cricket, and believe it to be the ultimate contest. Yet, it is hard for me to not acknowledge that a lot of the recent changes in test cricket that I like so much (the speed at which the game is currently played, which in turn creates more results, etc) are not directly a result of the one-day and 20/20 formats. The shot making and the speed at which the game is played is so much changed from the 70s, and a lot of it is a direct consequence of players having grown up with the one day format. While some might argue that ODIs and such can play havoc with things like textbook technique (long considered a staple requirement for success in tests), my counter would be that it is all part of the evolutionary change in the game. New textbook, thats all. Good players will take the best from each format and evolve to suit the needs of the situation and game. Meanwhile the fake heroes and one-day wonders will be sorted out in the pressure of the test arena soon enough. So not sure that the breeding mediocrity argument holds.
Second issue of balance between bat and ball has long been a sore point with me, but that applies equally to test cricket as well. All the recent changes in all formats of the game have been heavily favoring the batsmen - pitches, bouncer rule, helmets, fielding restrictions, etc etc - heaven forbid if a batsman actually has to face some challenging pitches or bowling. That is the one area where I believe the game has actually slipped a bit. And that is why I have a tremendous amount of respect for the batsmen of previous eras (even with significantly lower career averages), many of who were playing very fast bowling without helmets, often on uncovered pitches.