Cricket - More Popular Than Any Other Game?
By Peter Whelan

cricket is more popular than any other game.  This might be considered to be a bit of a random statement, but it many Aisan countries it is true. However, Test is now being super-ceeded by limited overs and it was hoped by the ICC that the new ranking system would help maintain interest in Test in nations where one-day is more popular.

There are many forms and grades of especially those played professionally at an international level including test cricket, one-day international and most recently, Twenty-twenty cricket.  Would it not be better though for to have fewer international matches, a slightly smaller ICC and less money, where a world in which every tournament and Test match was genuinely a special occasion. Food for thought, maybe?

Cricket is played by two teams of eleven players each, which take turns to bowl a hard-leather ball.  follows a complicated system of 42 rules, which can be modified prior to a game if both teams agree to it.  Test is played in traditional white clothes and with red balls. With limited overs games now being played in the debavle of coloued clothing. Test innings are extremely long, lasting up to six hours on a day, with several breaks for coffee and refreshments.  Test is almost always played as a series of matches between two countries, with all matches in the series taking place in the same country. It remains the highest-regarded form of the game, and although the comparatively new, one-day international is now more popular amongst some audiences.  Evening session could be a part of one-day international too, as there are two types of one day internationals, day matches and day night matches.  is a sport that has been played around the world for more than eight centuries.  is emerging as the one universal language of South Asia that could be a foolproof basis for finding common ground in other areas of life.  has also been prepared to change itself.  is so popular that in some countries like India, street and society is the game played not only by children or adolescents but also adults and age is no barrier.

Cricket is a game of momentum but unless the auhorities can get their act together, it's decline in some countries may be forever.

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Peter Whelan is freelance writer with a passion for sport.