Words of the week : Cricket Test

Words of the week : Cricket Test

Meaning: Bloodied by a fearsome terrorist attack and badly hit by economic fraud, cricket is being tested like never before. This is a cricket test rather than Test cricket

Origin: Test cricket has had a remarkably smooth run for a 132-year-old game. But two disparate events appear to have plunged it into a crisis - the sudden disappearance in disgrace of Texan billionaire Robert Allen Stanford and the terrorist attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team touring Pakistan. Stanford's abrupt exit - without paying the bills - has arguably left world cricket without too many options about how to create a new order that would reconcile the various forms of the game and its warring parties. Just a few months ago, in the West Indies, Stanford had played benefactor to an English version of the Twenty20. It was meant to compete with the new and, until now, hugely successful Indian Premier League (IPL). Then Stanford disappeared. And now, there are fears over security in the sub-continent, which means South Asian cricket can never really be the same again, at least for the foreseeable future. Already, insurance premiums for cricket matches are spiralling. It may become impossibly expensive for organizers, broadcasters and cricket boards to buy the special contingent policies they take out to cover loss of revenue when a match is cancelled because of adverse weather or terrorist attack

Etymology: Before Stanford and Lahore, Test cricket was already in a crisis. Even fanatical fans of Test cricket admitted the five-day game was, well, a bit too long. Many reluctantly agreed it was the sporting equivalent of an epic novel. Twenty20, cricket's 21st-century avatar, was meant to let the game chime with an age that demanded instant gratification. It's thought that there simply aren't enough days in the year and dollars in Test cricket to preserve Test calendars

Current significance: The cricket test is hard-going because Test cricket is in the doldrums and it's getting harder even to conduct an IPL Twenty20 match. Till Saturday, it was feared that security concerns would force the IPL to be postponed or not held at all this year. But it's going ahead, albeit with a revised gameplan.
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