The Debate: What should be done to stop the white-ball exodus?

What can cricket do to stop players walking away from the red-ball game? Mike Brearley, Mark Alleyne and Steven Finn have their say...

Get the players to promote Test cricket says Mike Brearley, former Middlesex and England captain, ex-chairman of the MCC World Cricket Committee

I’m worried about the balance between Test cricket and domestic T20. No one’s made a proper decision to prepare a window for Test cricket.

You can’t have Brendon McCullum, AB de Villiers and Chris Gayle not playing Test cricket. Promote Test cricket and get the big players involved. Gayle should be not only an advert for sponsors in the IPL, he should be an advert for Test cricket, and promote it as such. And he should be paid to do it.

It’s very difficult, because of the money. India, Australia and England can afford to, and they have iconic series. But South Africa v Australia at Durban – there was nobody there. It was a like a county match on a cold day at Ashby-de-la-Zouch.

We need to get people on the ground, otherwise Test cricket will die because the television companies won’t want to show it. Another drawback is the home side almost always wins.

I am worried about having two domestic T20 competitions from 2020. That’s going to interfere with the County Championship and take players away from it

So you’ve got to try a World Test Championship; day/night cricket; maybe four-day Tests, though I’m not really in favour of that.

You’ve got to help fans, too. In India they sometimes host Tests in stifling temperatures, make people queue for hours in 30°C, sit them in the sun, no food available… They treat them with disregard. The worry is that’s because the BCCI know their big money-spinner for the TV companies is the IPL.

I have a lot of time for Virat Kohli. He speaks his mind, he’s the best batsman there is, and he’s passionate about Test cricket. The Indian players, in fairness, have gone to the board for the last few years and asked for more Test cricket. So it’s not all ‘bad India’.

^{Hales is taking time away from the red-ball game}

I am worried about having two domestic T20 competitions from 2020. That’s going to interfere with the County Championship and take players away from it. I don’t know how much of it is about appeasing the grounds that aren’t in the city T20.

But people have to get their priorities right, or we will lose Test cricket, or only three countries will be playing it.

Test captains could improve their tactics says Mark Alleyne, former Gloucestershire captain and England one-day allrounder

Test cricket is a little too choreographed. Every hour seems to be a little predictable. Whereas white-ball cricket can be more frenetic, so captains have to think on their feet more, which makes it more interesting.

Now in Tests, you see as soon as some batsmen come in, irrespective of how the pitch is playing, fielders are moved to certain positions: ‘This is what we said we’ll do, so this is what we’ll do.’ We over-played Steve Smith during the Ashes. We almost got too strategic. I know that sounds crazy and they’ll all be shouting at me.

But the pace of the five-day game is lending itself to captains over-strategising.

Increase the financial rewards in first-class cricket says Steven Finn, Middlesex and England fast bowler

At the moment I’ve got great desire to help Middlesex back into the first division of the County Championship. I’ve still got Test aspirations too. For England players though, once your Test days are done you have to look yourself in the mirror and ask what you really want.

At the moment if you want a buzz from playing cricket and you want to play in front of a big crowd you need to be playing T20. Maybe there’ll be money directed into the Championship from this new TV deal from 2020 to try to entice people to stay in red-ball cricket. That would be good. But it’s a short career.

People who played the game 20 years ago don’t always understand that cricket is much more intense now. You have to look after your body to prolong your career. Playing 14 Championship games a year and everything else is not necessarily the best thing for your body or making the most of your career