Hogg: Test cricket will be extinct in ten years

Cricket365
April 14, 2016

Former Australia fast bowler Rodney Hogg has predicted that Test cricket will die out in the next ten years following the success of the recently concluded World T20 in India.

West Indies won the tournament after a sensational last over which saw Carlos Brathwaite smash Ben Stokes of England for four consecutive sixes to win the game and the title for the Caribbean side.

The Windies are undoubtedly one of the best T20 teams but are a shambles of a side in the longer formats and Hogg sees a big future for them in the shortest format.

Hogg said on SEN radio: "The sun going down unfortunately, Test cricket it's finished, it will be extinct in ten years, probably five.

"That was amazing what happened the other night, the West Indies are back…they're back in town. We looked at them here (in Australia), three Test matches they played over six weeks.

"The Channel Nine executives would've been going oh we're not watching this junk again and a lot of the public said we don't want to watch this. Then they come out and play that stuff the other night that was out of the 80's."

Another former Australia international, Greg Chappell, agreed with Hogg saying that it is easier to build a competitive T20I team than to sustain a top-ranked Test side.

Chappell said: "As far as Test cricket goes I would agree with Rodney, it's a different story for them. As it is for a lot of countries it's tough, it takes a huge investment to develop winning Test match teams.

"Test match cricket is under stress like never before there's no doubt about it, and I think what this will do is make everybody in cricket start to think about what we need to do to preserve Test cricket."