How West Indies' Twenty20 success could save Test cricket

West Indies cricket team, with all their bling and bravado, the personification of the modern game are. Keep them in white, they send out a few gimlet eyes Aussies to face, and they are lucky enough to extend a warm-up match to a third day. But they give maroon pajamas, a white ball and a pumping soundtrack, and they will beat you in the next week.

It is surprising that the West Indies' Jekyll-and-Hyde performance in recent months could have saved only Test cricket. You asked a petrie dish study available, is where the game go, should sporty capitalism are allowed to run free. Fortunately, the laboratory staff - otherwise known as the International Cricket Council - start some toxic to notice any side effects.The Penny began to drop at the turn of the year when Australian fans the small number of opposition, the team Jason Holders defendant put over defeated two thumping test, plus a rain-affected. It slid further than Carlos Brathwaite Ben Stokes for four consecutive sixes buckled the world T20 crown snatch. And that's really pennies and cents. If appearance fees for the traditional game continues as compared to the Indian Premier League largesse to pale why his reversal ramp not practice more than his forward defensive Brathwaite?
In Dubai this weekend the ICC improved prize money for test and series will discuss wins and a generous financial model of the smaller nations. Whether the embattled West Indies Cricket Board can convince the likes of Chris Gayle, Dwayne Bravo and six weeks commit a Test tour is another question. But at least the economy was soon to be slightly less stacked in direction 20 over thrash abouts.

This shift of emphasis marks a welcome as developed by the ICC. Only two years ago, this obscure bureaucrats came up with a "reform" - to use their word - the experts on the cricket world in search of an appropriate phrase sent. The 2014 "heist", "carve-up" or "land grab" was alarming enough (to have a category to niche at the Oscars, unfortunately) to initiate a campaign Cricket film called Death of a Gentleman.

The root of the problem was that India wanted a bigger piece of world cricket revenue. And India - favored by the next two strongest nations in England and Australia - got what they wanted: sixty-two percent of the income of these three heavyweights are retained, go to each of the other Test-nations.Here with only five percent again was sporting capitalism , now in its unedifying form. Writing in these pages, called Scyld Berry ICC Power-Play "the worst thing that has ever happened to our sport".

Do these plaintive cries change the landscape? the performance of the commentariat Has been proven? We can not be absolutely sure, but most signs point in this direction.

Narayanaswami Srinivasan, the Indian cement magnate who had led the Big Three machinations, was deposed as ICC chairman in November. Giles Clarke, the Englishman, who was his closest ally on the board is to be elected now than clouded seen on the same field in the summer. Instead, we can use the reappointment of Shashank Manohar, conciliatory expected figure that much to unpick is promising 2014 and limit India's colossal merit power.Here the dilemma of Indians is. Yes, they could potentially off the US sports go down and inwards, with their cricket, the IPL a copper ground source provides the funds available. But if they want to keep playing internationals, especially five-day internationals, they need to have someone to play against. And that means to spread the wealth to their potential enemies.

The point was made by some of the cricket of the most authoritative voices of Berry good to Gideon Haigh influential essay in Wisden Almanack. In the end it took, however, these perverted West Indians it to go home.