Brian Lara: Scrap draws from Test cricket
Brian Lara has called for the removal of draws in Test cricket to keep the five-day game result-oriented and interesting. The Caribbean great said the game's oldest format should continue to evolve in order to be relevant and attractive to contemporary audiences as well as to explore new markets.
"One of the complaints by an American is, 'how can you play a game for five days and it ends up in a draw?'," Lara told the BBC. "I would like to maybe see results in every single Test match. I know 70 per cent of the time the game takes its natural course and you get a result, (but) maybe find a way where you structure the game … you have 450 overs in five days, come up with some formula that can bring a win at the end of it."
Lara is Test cricket's only quadruple centurion and retired from international cricket when T20 was still in its nascent stages.
"I'm pro T20 because I played in a period where Test cricket was waning, the crowds were a bit smaller, and I grew up in the '70s and '80s lining up at 5am to watch a Test match in a packed house," Lara said.
"T20 has brought a new spectator in. I'm happy (with it) – it's three hours, well put together, and it's a game that has to grow in other countries, in America, in big countries … I believe (it's) a product we can take around the place.
"So I'm a big fan, but at the end of the day, my career was based around Test cricket and I'm very, very happy it was that way."
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