The era from the 1990s to the first decade of the 21st century witnessed the period of highly comparable cricket being played among top 8 cricket teams. This phase also marked the emergence of one day cricket and advent of T20 format. The equivalent composition If different teams also shape the prominence of the game which effectively helps in catching more and more eyeballs across the globe. like any other sports cricket too has evolved in the last five decades from the era of 5 days test matches to 50 over one Day International in floodlights and to the modern flourishing format of T20 cricket. The boundaries of cricket have now spread to over 120 countries across the globe but for some teams, this transition phase in the respect to the team combination performance and even dealing with three formats of the game is largely uneven, diverse and challenging. Teams like India, Australia, New Zealand and England have successfully gone through a transition period on the backup of good domestic talents. but on the other hand, West Indies, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and South Africa hasn’t been able to build their team after the transition we try to find out actual reasons behind the downfall of Sri Lanka and South Africa—
Sri Lanka, a small island nation draws global attention among the cricket fraternity on winning 1996 ICC world cup. its rise in International Cricket was predominantly because of some legendary player Sanath Jayasuriya, Muttiah Muralidharan, Arjuna Ranatunga and Kumar Sangakkara to name a few. Sri Lankan team were known for their consistent performance at the world cup stage. Lankan lions also clinched world t-20 in 2014 besides this they were runners up in 2007 and 2011 ICC world cup and 2009 and 2012 in the T20 world cup.
But soon after all glory, Sri Lanka witnessed the transition period following the retirement of major players. over-the-years standard of Sri Lanka cricket is deteriorating.
Even though the team has been able to produce some fine young talent such as Dinesh chandimal Kushal Perera Angelo Mathews and Kushal Mendis. But lack of consistency and failing to deliver maturity through their performance has harmed team fortunes. however, Sri Lankan board hopes that school cricket will revive and contribute to building a strong team in near future. plenty of T20 cricket and the fragile domestic circuit has contributed for ill going of the national team.
At a time when International Cricket revolves around economic benefits, the underperforming teams have less number of fixtures against top teams. As the prospects of team international schedule depend on their current proforma performances it effectively leaves a major financial impact on Sri Lankan cricket board. The recent editions of IPL spot less number of Sri Lankan players as compared to early editions of Indian League.
South African cricket team and their transition story
The other Cricket nation which is going through a long period of transition is South Africa– a British colony which got its test status Wayback in 1889 becoming the first after Australia and England. proteas cricket history has undergone major adversity when they were banned from international cricket for over two decades in 1970.
Upon their re-admission to International cricket in 1991, the South African team has second-best international performance record as a team only next to Australia. with the likes of Jack Kallis, Graeme Smith, Shaun Pollock and Allan Donald proteas dominate world cricket for over 2 decades. the transition period which began after the retirement of legendary players has ruin team fortune in the long run. however, there are other major reasons for their Downfall. the Saga of kolpak deal has not only spoil south African International cricket team but also their domestic circuit as the player fly away to play in England that offers more pay and better living conditions. The kolpak rule allows player from abroad to play in European union without being considered as an overseas player. the other causes were racial quota policy which mandates the south African team to have 6 black players but for the white player, this policy has affects their fate to represent their national side. Among the factors, besides Cricket the financial insurgency in South Africa and its constituent effect’s on cricket board income.
Effects of transition on Test cricket format
The traditional format of gentleman game is struggling to survive in the era of T-20 Revolution and transition in major cricket playing has somehow lowered the standard of test cricket. unlike T20 and 50 overs format, the Red ball format requires patience, a great set of skills, character and altogether different techniques. but a new generation of players who trained themselves according to T20 cricket lacks these skills to achieve proficiency in test cricket. The home advantage factor also upsurges in modern time which effectively leads to more one side results in bilateral series.
In previous 50 test matches that have been played in the last 16-18 months, out of them 42 matches were ended in 4 days or under. The last decade in Test cricket saw a rise in the overall percentage of the bilateral season won by the host nation as a consequence of home advantage.
There is no second opinion that T20 cricket has bought enormous success in the game of Cricket it hat change over on prospects of the game and helps cricket to become more democratic and accessible. Only T20 cricket can give the opportunity to players from wind ball tournament of Caribbean countries and Street Cricket tournaments of South Asia to represent their national team at the international level.
In Cricket there is a strong dichotomy exists that a well-established Test cricketer can play with perfection in T20 format but the reverse of it happens very Rarely. The freelance cricketer trend also tarnishes the contemplation of test Cricket. Now the top governing bodies should think over it to revive the oldest format. The team who are struggling should have to think over the split captaincy with a different pool of players playing different formats. The encouragement and incentive to players who are good in longer format shouldn’t be less in any sense.