THE GOOGLY: Test cricket's beauty is in its natural rhythm... let's not mess with over rates too much

HUW TURBERVILL: Modern life – so the cliché goes – is like being on a zippy escalator, a flash of travel, work, electronic screens, reduced leisure time and a huge choice of ephemeral activities that were unavailable in not-so-distant days

"I like the beauty of the game, the whites against the green, the pace of it, and the fact that you're allowed to drink in the stand, which you can't do at football."

There is no evidence that Lily Allen was talking specifically about Test cricket, although they seem to be the matches she has been spied at.

But it is the reference to “the pace of it” that always interested me. She also commented on its “slower rhythms”. 

The notion that a trendy young thing – she is still only 33 but she said these things about a decade ago – prefers the longer and (in theory) slower game is appealing to traditionalists.

That could be a thing of the past though, if the ICC are to implement the suggestions made by the MCC World Cricket Committee.

^{Over rates in Test cricket have become a contentious subject}

Mike Gatting and his team, including Shane Warne, have suggested a 45-second countdown between overs. Sides would be warned if they fail to ready themselves in time, and receive five-run penalties if it happens again.

Now efforts to ensure 90 overs in a day are laudable. After all tickets cost at least £50 a time. It has long been an annoyance for so many in the game. Richie Benaud used to talk incessantly about it, and the issue has become even more acute. 

The Cricketer receives a lot of letters on the subject and the ICC are determined to tackle the problem.

To widespread consternation, Jason Holder – fresh from leading West Indies to a remarkable series win over England – had to miss the third Test (the lap of honour for his side really) because of his side’s dawdling.

Of course, as Andrew Samson said in his column, the diminishing over-rate has been counter-balanced by the increased scoring rate, but it is still a question of spectators feeling they are being short-changed seeing as some of them are paying about a pound an over.

But... and it is a big but for me... I don’t want to see bowlers running back to their mark in a Test match.

I attended the first night of T20 in this country, at the Rose Bowl, in 2003. It was a shock to the system – a whirling dervish of an evening. It seemed so quick you could barely register who was bowling. I missed a Wasim Akram over because I was chatting to my hosts, in the same way batsmen missed his hooping deliveries, and that saddened me. After all, he only had four in total. They were much more stringent about the timings of T20 back then.

The MCC is taking steps to curb the decline in the number of overs per hour

Now we are used to such freneticism. T20 has become cricket’s foremost format on the global stage. There is also T10 – branded as the equivalent of a 90-minute football match. And soon there will be The Hundred, with 10 balls from each end to speed things up and make for a 150-minute package for BBC Television.

Lots of people do not like these swifter formats. I have come to appreciate them more (certainly T20 anyway).

You still have sumptuous sequences of cricket. 

But I do not think I would relish a stopwatch becoming a key component of a day’s Test cricket. 

‘Organised loafing’ is how William Temple, the Archbishop of Canterbury from 1942-44, described the game. 

Allen also mentioned – if I recall correctly – how great it is to watch a ball, then have a chat, sip a drink, eat a snack, watch another ball, and so on.

Modern life – so the cliché goes – is like being on a zippy escalator, a flash of travel, work, electronic screens, reduced leisure time and a huge choice of ephemeral activities that were unavailable in not-so-distant days.

So let us leave the Test match as is. Yes get on with it to an extent, but keep it spontaneous and freestyle. That is part of the beauty of it.