Why Test cricket may be under threat like never before

Former England captain Mike Brearley tells Richard Edwards how he feels the sport is in danger of turning its back on tradition and hurtling too fast in the opposite direction

Test cricket is under pressure (POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

As a cricketer, Mike Brearley is generally acknowledged to be among the finest English Test captains ever to toss a coin in anger.

Now the man who won 18 and lost just four of his 31 matches as England skipper, fears that the desire to make quick and substantial sums of money from Twenty20 cricket is placing the game’s longest format under threat like never before.

Speaking shortly before the publication of his latest book, Spirit of Cricket: Reflections on Play and Life, the ex-Middlesex man told The Independent, that the unwritten code which governs the sport – one that’s uniquely associated with cricket – also incorporates the decision making of those who govern it.