Sir Andrew Strauss believes Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes have helped “redefine what the sport of cricket is definitely about” with their strategy to Take a look at matches.
England head coach McCullum and captain Stokes have reworked the boys’s nationwide crew’s fortunes since being appointed in Could.
They’ve inspired an attacking model of play which has seen England win 9 of their final 10 Take a look at matches, having gained one in 17 earlier than the duo have been appointed.
Strauss, who has overseen a excessive efficiency overview for the England and Wales Cricket Board, believes their strategy has challenged the normal view of how the format ought to be performed.
“The approaching collectively of Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes in Could final 12 months has shifted the sport of Take a look at cricket from its foundations and has requested some elementary questions of the centuries previous accepted truths of the Take a look at format,” Strauss mentioned within the Marylebone Cricket Membership’s Cowdrey Lecture at Lord’s.
“What these two extraordinary leaders of males – aided in no small half by Rob Key as director of cricket – have executed, is redefine as soon as once more what the sport of cricket is definitely about.”
Strauss believes the normal type of the worldwide sport will all the time have a future regardless of the rise of shorter codecs.
Worldwide Cricket Council chair Greg Barclay was criticised final summer time for suggesting there could possibly be a discount of Take a look at matches within the close to future because of the rise of home franchise leagues.
Strauss admits there could also be some modifications to the schedules going ahead however insists main Take a look at sequence “aren’t going anyplace”.
“It’s inevitable that some previous establishments would possibly creak on the seams, together with some debt-laden nationwide governing our bodies {and professional} golf equipment,” the previous England Take a look at captain mentioned.
“Their function and objective within the sport could must be redefined and clarified over time.
“Additionally, bilateral cricket in the best way that we see it at the moment is more likely to be squeezed in a technique form or type.
“Is that an issue? Provided that we maintain on too tightly to the best way issues have all the time been.
“I firmly consider that the Take a look at sequence that seize our imaginations at the moment – those that we actually look ahead to – aren’t going anyplace.”
Strauss additionally believes competitions such because the ECB’s Hundred are rising cricket’s viewers and permitting folks from totally different backgrounds to get entangled within the sport.
He added: “Should you enable your self to maintain sure up within the thesis that the aim of the sport is to convey various folks collectively, whether or not enjoying or watching, and to permit cricket to teach and join, then absolutely the rise of franchise cricket is among the nice steps ahead.
“The reality is that the sport of cricket has by no means been extra fashionable or extra various.”
