End of the road for Tests?

After an MCC survey shows that most fans in India, New Zealand and South Africa favour limited-overs cricket to Tests, Peter Roebuck wonders in the Sydney Morning Herald whether the five-day game can survive.

In some countries, a Test match is staged and no one turns up. The Kiwis play on oddly shaped grounds before a smattering of spectators. Stands in Sri Lanka and Pakistan echo as a five-day match unfolds. South Africa offers free tickets to busloads of schoolchildren. Bear in mind that only nine supposedly cricket-mad nations play Test matches. Their teams contain all the dynamic and glamorous performers around and still the matches are played to almost empty houses. If they cannot hold an audience, what price the rising nations?