Don’t allow Test cricket ruined by cash cow of T20: Pietersen
Tue, Nov 11, 2008
Amid fears that Test cricket may soon be left trampled under the stampede for Twenty20 cash, England captain Kevin Pietersen today urged world cricket leaders to do everything in their power to protect the longer version of the game.
Pietersen insisted that the primacy and integrity of Test cricket must be preserved at all costs.
“Test cricket is the big stuff. It’s about challenging yourself against the best players in the world in the hardest environment. I’ve had a taste of how wonderful it is and I love everything about playing for my country,” Pietersen told ‘The Mail on Sunday’.
“But future generations, even my kids, might be facing questions like ‘Do I want to be a Test cricketer or do I want to be a Twenty20 cricketer and franchise myself out for that?”. And they might feel differently,” he stated.
Pietersen underlines the dangers by citing the example of left-arm swing bowler Neil Carter, contracted as a Warwickshire player but allowed by the club to join Middlesex on loan to play in their Twenty20 games in Antigua and in Champions League Twenty20 in India in December.
Pietersen’s side play county Twenty20 champions Middlesex today in Antigua as part of build up to first of five annual winner-takes-all USD 20 million Stanford matches on Saturday which could net him and his team more than 6 lakh pounds each.
With a new Southern Premier League planned for clubs from Australia, South Africa and New Zealand, the Champions League T20 in December, the second Twenty20 World Cup in England next summer and the English Premier League due to start in 2010 alongside the Standford international quadrangular tournament, the power and popularity of the shortest form of the game is growing across the world. PTI
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