I don’t think England particularly care about the Test Championship at present. If you asked an English cricketer or supporter, what they’d, rather win, the Ashes or the Test Championship, it’d be the Ashes every time and that’s really where captains, teams and coaches are judged.
If you’ve never watched the documentary’Death of a Gentleman’ then I’d highly recommend it. It goes into how the big 3 cemented their power. Although to be honest, England and Australia are now secondary to India’s power and particularly that of the IPL and the global franchises that has created.
Look at what the BCCI did with the IPL auction recently in insisting that if players want to be part of the next 3 year cycle they must make themselves available for the 2025 auction. You regularly see English and Australian players dipping in and out of the IPL and fitting it around international commitments. That’s no longer an option unless they want to forgo millions over a 3 year period and what can the nations do to stop India or the players? Nothing really!
Yes I see how powerful India are these days and will definitely watch the documentary. Players cannot afford to miss out on the IPL these days and can see how this is going to screw up their international commitments.
P.s. I watched quite a lot of that Test at Centurion. Really good game of cricket on a really competitive wicket. That's ultimately what Test cricket needs more of is competitive matches and competitive series that are supported by competitive pitches.
I think the Test Championship is a good idea but the format is flawed. It’d be great if you could get all the Test playing nations together to play in one country over a couple months almost like a Test Cricket World Cup. Given the growing pressures of T20 cricket on the cricketing calendar and the fact that Test cricket isn’t financially viable in many countries it wouldn’t surprise if that doesn’t come to pass at some point.
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