Greg Chappell, the legendary Australian cricketer, has gone on a full-blown rant in his column on how batters from both teams in the Ashes failed to live up to expectations in the ongoing series, resulting in cricket’s oldest format’s future in doubt.
Chappel, in his column, was critical of the batters’ lack of application in playing for the long haul, opting to go for the aggressive rout while batting.
In fact, two of the Tests in the four matches completed in The Ashes have been wrapped up in two days, with the debate regarding batting and the conditions resurfacing. But Chappell was after the batters and their lack of adaptation.
“Two Tests in the series have failed to reach day three, not due to superior skill but a glaring absence of desire. Batters slashed wildly, abandoning technique for bravado, as if playing their “natural game” excused capitulation,” Chappell wrote.
“They let down predecessors who bled for this rivalry; they shortchanged fans who braved the holiday heat; they betrayed their own generation by forsaking cricket’s core tenets – playing each ball on merit, scrapping for every run, enduring bruises for the greater good,” he added.
Chappell admitted that the white-ball game has changed how Test cricket is played, but questioned if the players themselves value the longest format the same way the previous generations did.
“I get that white-ball cricket has changed the game and power is valued more in the marketplace today than the ability to absorb pressure, but if the modern player does value Test cricket, as they say, then they must show it by being able to bat collectively for a minimum of 100 overs in any conditions. If they can’t, or won’t, do that, then the format is doomed,” he wrote.
