Those of us who watched the last day of the final Ashes Test of the present series enjoyed a rare and unexpected treat — and I write as one who has been a devoted cricket follower for more than 70 years: the first first-class match I ever saw was the Royal Navy playing the Army at Lords in 1942.
There has, however, been much controversy over the anti-climactic ending, when the umpires decided to call it a day, on grounds of bad light, with England on the brink of victory. Much has been said about how this sort of disappointment must be avoided in future. In fact, the remedy is obvious. It is twofold.
First, Test matches should start much earlier in the day than they do at present. Even when there are no rain breaks, today’s slow over rates, exacerbated by far too many petty interruptions of play, mean that the scheduled playing time is regularly exceeded.
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