Sir Andrew Strauss believes Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes have helped “redefine what the sport of cricket is definitely about” with their method to Check matches.
England head coach McCullum and captain Stokes have reworked the lads’s nationwide staff’s fortunes since being appointed in Might.
They’ve inspired an attacking fashion of play which has seen England win 9 of their final 10 Check matches, having received one in 17 earlier than the duo had been appointed.
Strauss, who has overseen a excessive efficiency assessment for the England and Wales Cricket Board, believes their method has challenged the normal view of how the format needs to be performed.
“The approaching collectively of Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes in Might final 12 months has shifted the sport of Check cricket from its foundations and has requested some basic questions of the centuries previous accepted truths of the Check format,” Strauss mentioned within the Marylebone Cricket Membership’s Cowdrey Lecture at Lord’s.
“What these two extraordinary leaders of males – aided in no small half by Rob Key as director of cricket – have finished, is redefine as soon as once more what the sport of cricket is definitely about.”
Strauss believes the normal type of the worldwide recreation will all the time have a future regardless of the rise of shorter codecs.
Worldwide Cricket Council chair Greg Barclay was criticised final summer season for suggesting there might be a discount of Check matches within the close to future as a result of rise of home franchise leagues.
Strauss admits there could also be some adjustments to the schedules going ahead however insists main Check collection “aren’t going anyplace”.
“It’s inevitable that some previous establishments would possibly creak on the seams, together with some debt-laden nationwide governing our bodies {and professional} golf equipment,” the previous England Check captain mentioned.
“Their position and goal within the recreation could need to be redefined and clarified over time.
“Additionally, bilateral cricket in the best way that we see it at this time is more likely to be squeezed in a technique form or type.
“Is that an issue? Provided that we maintain on too tightly to the best way issues have all the time been.
“I firmly consider that the Check collection that seize our imaginations at this time – those that we actually stay up for – aren’t going anyplace.”
Strauss additionally believes competitions such because the ECB’s Hundred are rising cricket’s viewers and permitting individuals from totally different backgrounds to get entangled within the sport.
He added: “If you happen to permit your self to maintain certain up within the thesis that the aim of the sport is to carry various individuals collectively, whether or not enjoying or watching, and to permit cricket to coach and join, then absolutely the rise of franchise cricket is without doubt one of the nice steps ahead.
“The reality is that the sport of cricket has by no means been extra standard or extra various.”