Test cricket needs an occasion worthy of the game

How good was Justin Greaves’ spell of five consecutive wicket-maidens against Pakistan?

How good is it to see a West Indies side, armed with one of its best pace attacks in decades, winning matches?

And how good was the raucous Trinidadian crowd cheering it all on?

Oh.

The empty stands at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy were a depressing sight, but hardly an unfamiliar one. The Caribbean once gave Test cricket some of its loudest and most vibrant crowds. Now, attendance at some matches appears to have withered almost to zero.

It will inevitably be presented as further evidence of the death of Test cricket, which must now be the longest death in professional sport.

Test cricket is not dead. It still draws big crowds in Australia and England, as well as for certain matches in India and elsewhere.

But to really thrive test cricket needs to embrace festivalisation in order to revitalise the format.

The festivalisation of sport is already reshaping major events around the world.

Formula One races and tennis Grand Slams tennis are increasingly becoming multi-day festivals featuring live music, entertainment and food. This broadens their appeal to casual fans, encourages tourism and creates more opportunities for commercial partnerships.

Few sports are better suited to this approach than Test cricket, which already provides five days around which an entire festival can be built.

Test cricket’s five days should be seen as a feature, not a bug.

It would be wrong to prescribe exactly how every host should do it. Instead, each Test could become a festival celebrating its city’s culture, music and food.

A Test in Trinidad should feel unmistakably Trinidadian, offering an experience no other host can reproduce.

The same should be true in Guyana, Galle, Harare or Cape Town.

More consistent scheduling could help turn each city’s Test into a signature event, something locals and tourists alike look forward to every year

Greaves’ spell showed that Test cricket has no problem producing incredible performances and absorbing contests.

Now the game must build an occasion worthy of them.