Mitchell Johnson: The bigger Twenty20 gets, the more I realise I’m in love with Test cricket
The bigger the Twenty20 boom gets, the more I realise I love Test cricket.
So it was great to see reports that the ICC looks like introducing a fund to protect the future of Test cricket in the face of the riches on offer in the T20 franchise leagues.
The fund could mean guaranteed minimum Test match payments for all players around the world and the costs of touring covered for struggling countries.
Attention will again turn to the shortest form of the game with Sunday’s Big Bash League overseas player draft but give me five days over 40 overs any day.
While I’ve never been a huge fan of T20 cricket, I do appreciate the new skills it has brought to all forms of the game.
Batsmen can now go for it from ball one and score 360 degrees, bowlers have to be multi-dimensional and adapt to all situations and fielders take flying catches around the boundary rope that excite the crowd.
With that being said, I still find Test cricket more exciting. Yes, there are dull periods throughout five days but even in those slow moments, as a player out in the middle or a fan who understands the game, it’s about tactics.
Camera IconThe bigger the Twenty20 boom gets, the more I realise I love Test cricket. Credit: Paul Kane/Getty Images
It might seem like nothing is happening, but something is always happening. If a team looks like they are faltering or a plan hasn’t worked for them and the other team has counteracted the attack, a reset in plans needs to happen.
There are so many scenarios and it’s never over until the last ball. There is no stage like Test cricket for true guts and glory.
Cape Town in 2014 comes to mind. Ryan Harris was basically on one leg and in extreme pain with a hip injury and bone-on-bone in his knee when captain Michael Clarke asked him to bowl us to victory as South Africa were getting close to saving the game.
I was on at the other end when Ryno finished the match by bowling Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel in the space of three balls.
It came after a gruelling couple of days when Harris had endured a painful series of treatments including dry needling and having 30 millilitres of fluid drained from his knee just to try and make it to the bowling crease for the second innings.
“At the start of the day, he was struggling to walk let alone bowl,” Clarke said after the match.
Harris himself said: “All the pain I went through last night and the night before is all worth it now.”
Camera IconRyan Harris celebrates as he takes the last wicket of Morne Morkel. Credit: Morne de Klerk/Getty Images
Harris was able to stand up when we needed him to. He showed what it meant to him to play Test cricket for Australia and was prepared to grind it out even though he was in serious pain.
That was Test cricket at its best between two of the best teams in the world.
The thing about Test cricket is it is not just what you see in the middle. It’s the time put in at training. It’s building the kind of fitness you need to get through five gruelling days of cricket and then back that up over and over. And not just to pass, but to try to be the very best for a long period of time.
It is draining. You constantly fight with little niggles and have to always remain mentally switched on.
Now watching on from the outside has given me new perspective. I enjoy the battles and the shifting moments in the game.
Like when a bowling team takes the second new ball and they have to clean up the tail-enders. You think it’s set up in their favour but then you see the tail fight and frustrate the bowlers.
There are so many more little moments to appreciate in the Test format.
Playing Test cricket for your country is about a lot of things and integrity is what stands out for me.
We live in a country that can pay its players well. We have great opportunities here and great facilities, programs and pathways for anyone to become a Test cricketer if they have the ability and desire.
The modern push for T20 is strong but the feeling you have when you pull on the baggy green for Australia far outweighs any T20 match I’ve even watched or played in.
I enjoyed the best education with Queensland, growing up playing alongside Andy Bichel, Michael Kasprowicz, Joey Dawes, Jimmy Maher and Stuart Law.
Camera IconRyan Harris of Australia bowls during day 3 of the third test match between South Africa and Australia. Credit: Morne de Klerk/Getty Images
As a youngster, I had some of the best to learn from and understand from them that the ultimate was to play Test cricket or four-day cricket for your proud State.
Being part of that dressing room allowed me to grow as a cricketer and it’s something I’ll always be thankful for.
So where would my priorities lie had I been born 20 years later?
I’m confident that as a young guy now I would still choose the pride and integrity of playing Test cricket for my country over the smash, bash and cash of Twenty20.
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