Former Australian captain Steve Waugh showed his fear for the Test cricket because of T20 cricket. The former Australian captain, who played a record 168 Tests and once led his team to an unprecedented 16 consecutive victories, believes the priorities are already well on the way to changing in some countries, the West Indies the most obvious example.
“There is a danger there because obviously the Windies are fantastic at T20 and young kids see that. They see they can make a lot of money. The West Indies got into a bit of trouble when Chris Gayle, who was a great Test player, said his priority was T20, then other senior players say the same thing, young kids hear it and all of a sudden the focus is on T20.” Waugh said.
“The incentive to become great Test match cricketers is not as great as it is in Australia. We have to hope senior cricketers in each country keep promoting Test cricket,” he added.
Steve has praised Australia for their responsibility towards Test cricket. “Australian players still always talk about the baggy green cap and playing for their country and the responsibility rests with senior players in every country to do the same,” he told.
Waugh said Australia failed “not in a bad way” to win the T20 Cup — the one trophy it has never won — because it failed to prepare properly, sending some key players within that format to New Zealand to play a Test while the Big Bash was still going. “I don’t think too many other countries would do that. Cricket Australia has Test cricket as a priority and that’s a great thing — but we probably got what we deserved by not preparing for the T20 properly,” he said.
He said it was “a shame” New Zealand’s crowd-pleasing captain Brendon McCullum had walked away from Test and one-day cricket while he still had a few years to give, “but it looks like he’s on the superannuation train” playing only T20.
“He’s looking after his family’s future and I don’t blame them for that. It’s easy money. I saw that Aaron Finch is playing for his sixth IPL franchise so there is no loyalty to a team, its loyalty to the money. It’s a business and I don’t blame the players. The team owners are pretty cut-throat too,” Waugh told.