Don’t banish Test cricket just for ‘fast food’ T20s, appeals Gordon Greenidge
Gordon Greenidge, one of West Indies’ greatest batters of all time, raised his concerns over the sudden rise of franchise leagues across the world. Greenidge, aged 71 now, is worried about the existence of Test cricket, which he labelled ‘real cricket’, courtesy of T20 and T10 franchise leagues.
Gordon Greenidge is highly regarded as one of the most destructive batters that the West Indies have ever produced. His tally of 7,558 Test runs at an average of 44.72 after 108 matches, and 5,134 runs at 45.03 after 128 games highlight how illustrious his cricket career was at the international level. In all, he had scored 30 hundreds: 19 in red-ball cricket, and 11 in limited-overs cricket.
In a recent interaction with SportStar, Greenidge revealed how much admiration still he has for Test cricket. The 71-year-old requested Test matches should live long till eternity, and the format should not be impacted by the recent rise of franchise competitions. At the same time, Greenidge admitted that he has no worries about the current downfall of West Indies cricket, which failed to even reach the Super 12 in the T20 World Cup last year.
“It used to hurt me but it doesn’t hurt me anymore because I don’t watch cricket anymore. Only if it is Test cricket and only if it is about a young player, who I have heard about, I will try my best to go and watch that kid play and make my own judgment about what I feel about that player," Greenidge told SportStar.
“On a personal note, I would not like to see 50-over withdrawn and just T20 being played. I believe T20 is a spectator’s sport, and it is no anymore a cricketer’s sport. Yes, cricketers play, but T20, for me, is like fast food. Test cricket is real cricket. From Test cricket, we came to 50-over, then T20, and now we are going to 10-over, where will we go from here maybe one-over or two-over per side? Keep the cricket alive but don’t banish Test cricket, that is the real cricket we all are here for, we all grew up with.”