England secured a resounding 3-0 victory over Pakistan in the recently-concluded Test series. Ben Stokes and Co. dominated the proceedings, blowing the hosts with their new philosophy, which goes by the name Bazball. Despite the change in approach, England skipper Ben Stokes feels red-ball cricket is threatened by the rising-popularity of shorter format of the game.
Well he is not entirely wrong as the dynamics of cricket has heavily been altered with franchise leagues on the rise. Apart from the renowned leagues such as the Indian Premier League (IPL), and Big Bash, two news franchise leagues are set to be introduced next year. The South Africa T20 league, which starts from January is one of them, with many IPL stakeholders forming different teams, who'll take part in the tournament.
Apart from this, cricket has been even shortened with several renowned players taking part in T10 leagues, which is a 10-over a side contest.
Sharing his views on the same, Stokes in an conversation with former England cricketer Ian Botham on BBC noted: "Test cricket has been spoken about in a way I don't like. It is losing the attention of the fans with all the new formats and franchise competitions. We understand there are so many opportunities for players away from Test cricket. But for me it is so important for the game. I love playing Test cricket and felt we could do something different.
{{/usCountry}}Sharing his views on the same, Stokes in an conversation with former England cricketer Ian Botham on BBC noted: "Test cricket has been spoken about in a way I don't like. It is losing the attention of the fans with all the new formats and franchise competitions. We understand there are so many opportunities for players away from Test cricket. But for me it is so important for the game. I love playing Test cricket and felt we could do something different.
{{/usCountry}}"Taking the result away from the mindset is a great starting point. Putting focus on making every day entertaining. Not allowing people to know what is going to happen. If people turn up excited about what they are going to watch you've already won before a ball has been bowled."
While cricket is on the surge with the rise in franchise competitions, but it has adversely impacted the scheduling, a point Stokes further highlighted during the interaction.
Citing the example of the ODI series between England and Australia right after the T20 World Cup, Stokes added: "The scheduling doesn't get enough attention that it should. A great example is England's one-day series against Australia after the T20 World Cup. That was shoving three games in there. It made sense to someone to schedule a series which meant nothing.
"Some people say 'you are playing for England, that should be enough'. But there is a lot more to factor in. You want international cricket to be the highest standard. But we have seen a lot of different squads being picked and players being rested, and that's not the way international cricket should go."
Stokes was acquired by Chennai Super Kings for a whopping amount of ₹16.25 crore in the IPL 2023 mini-auction held in Kochi on Friday.