Day 80: A bit of a ramble

 I have been doing a fair bit of reading about cricket this year. That might not sound odd for someone that wants to write about is as more than a hobby, and I genuinely do. I have noticed reading a biography about Learie Constantine, Fire in Babylon, and an assortment of others is just how scared that the authorities that Test match cricket has been under threat from leagues and organisations that have been willing to pay cricketers a decent wage.

League cricket in the 1930s was big business in the north of England and attracted some big-name players. Constantine was not the only West Indian player earning a wage in Lancashire, George Headley, one of the great batsman of generation. They both had more opportunities to secure a profession from the game in the leagues than in their home countries.

Then again, cricket has always seen clear distinctions in class until the 1960s that was evident in England with a split between professional and amateur. When we think of amateur, we associate it with not being very good, a bit shoddy, and someone who does something for the love of it.

The 1970s saw the introduction of World Series Cricket, which focused on national teams but was aware that the best players deserved to be treated better.

Of course, the modern-day threat to Test cricket is in the variety of T20 league that has sprung up worldwide. These leagues offer players the chance to earn money in the space of eight weeks that most cricketers wouldn’t make in a career.

It isn’t easy to turn down, and I know most of us would if given the opportunity to earn more money in a shorter period; who wouldn’t take it?

We tend to hold our sports stars to a different standard. I’m not sure why we do this, is there a hint of jealously there? To an extent, yes. What I think it boils down to is that we follow one team's ups and downs in a sport in our lives. We expect the players to have the same loyalty as us. That it is more than just a job.

We feel it when a player plays a poor shot, or bowls a bad ball or has the temerity to drop and easy catch. It is us that pays their wages, and they should remember it.

This is rubbish, of course, and if we applied it to our day jobs or god forbid when we play for the club side at the weekend, we would never be able to stand the scrutiny.

Getting back on track, Test cricket faces challenges, and I am far from having the answers to any of those challenges, but I think we have to cut the other formats some slack. They are, after all, the reason we have Test cricket in the first place. Let us all enjoy cricket in whatever shape or size it comes in.