Cricket must be an Olympic sport

Cricket must be an Olympic sport - Gilchrist

Adam Gilchrist has called for a dramatic reduction in the number of Tests in a move he believes will preserve the five-day format in the face of the Twenty20 challenge. While delivering the Cowdrey Lecture at Lord's on Wednesday, Gilchrist said Tests were the "most impractical vehicle to use" when trying to promote the game globally and he continued his push for the expansion of Twenty20, along with a call to include cricket in the Olympics

"To preserve [Test cricket's] future, which we must - less is in fact more - we should go back to the future where there were fewer Test matches, but a lot more important ones," Gilchrist said. "And where the best cricketers of the day played closer to 50 Tests in their career, not 150."

Despite wanting a cull of the five-day itinerary, Gilchrist said Tests should be tampered with "as little as possible". "Its rules, customs and playing conditions - like Major League Baseball - should remain as close to how it has been played for the past 130 years," he said. "Many of cricket's innovations should be applied only in the shorter forms of the game. This not only includes the expanded umpire referral system, but especially the mooted introduction of night Test cricket and a different coloured ball needed to accommodate this."

Gilchrist, who captained Deccan Chargers to the IPL trophy in May, does not believe Twenty20, which he wants in the Olympics, answers all of cricket's problems. "Whilst I now appreciate and enjoy playing and watching T20 cricket - especially after captaining the Deccan Chargers to the 2009 IPL title - I am at heart a traditionalist, who firmly believes that Test cricket is the ultimate test of a player's and team's ability," he said. "This is not to say that T20 isn't a skilful game. It certainly is.

"For all their similarities, T20 still requires many different skill sets from the longer forms of the game. The fact that some very well credentialed Test cricketers have struggled to adapt to the game, whilst others who will probably never come close to playing Test cricket have thrived in T20- is surely proof enough."


Gilchrist spent considerable time in laying out his reasons for cricket's inclusion in the Olympics. "The single best way to spread the game globally," said Gilchrist, "is for the ICC to actively seek its inclusion as an Olympic sport.

"Without doubt, the Olympic movement provides one of the most efficient and cost effective distribution networks for individual sports to spread their wings globally. It would be difficult to see a better, quicker or cheaper way of spreading the game throughout the world.

"The Olympic movement's only remaining dead pocket in the world happens to coincide with cricket's strongest - the subcontinent," said Gilchrist. "This region, which includes India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, represents just over one fifth of the world's population. But with the exception of their great hockey teams of the past, these cricket powerhouses have received barely a handful of Olympic medals in nearly 100 years of competition.

"What better way for the IOC to spread the Olympic brand and ideals into this region, than on the back of T20 cricket? The rewards for both the ICC and IOC getting this right would be enormous."