Former New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum has predicted that Test cricket will soon end as teams simply won’t have the resources to play the sport.
“I firmly believe that Test cricket won’t be around in time, because there’s only so many teams that can afford to play it,” he was quoted as saying. “And whilst we all adore Test cricket, and for me it is the purest form of the game – I’m loyal to it – I’m also a realist that people are turning up and watching T20” he told Cricinfo.
He added that in the long term, T20 franchises will own players and they won’t release them for Test matches. “Long long-term, I see a T20 franchise as owning players, and I don’t see them releasing those players to play for their nation in a Test match,” he said.
McCullum retired from international cricket in 2016 and but still plies his trade around the globe, taking part in the IPL, the BBL, the CPL, the PSL and the BPL. He is currently second on the all-time run scorers’ list in T20, with over 9000 runs, second only to Chris Gayle.
“I don’t buy that you need residual [Test match] skills to be able to then transfer into T20. To me, they’re played with the same instruments but they’re completely separate games. I think once we do separate it even more, then the skill level of T20 cricket will go to a whole new level altogether.” he further added.
