By Daniel Lane
South African great Jacques Kallis has expressed concerns about the future of Test cricket in his home country and the minimal number of Tests the Proteas have played in the past two years, warning the International Cricket Council it needs to introduce its much talked about Test championship to preserve the significance of the five-day game.
Before leaving Australia after he helped guide Sydney Thunder to the Big Bash League title, the man ranked alongside Keith Miller and Garfield Sobers as one of cricket's greatest all-rounders, admitted he was amazed by the minimal amount of cricket South Africa – the world's No.1 ranked Test nation – has played in recent times.
"It's been sad to see how little cricket South Africa has played; [they've] probably played the least amount of Test cricket last year," Kallis said. "It's sad the No.1 side has only played seven [or] eight Test matches in the last year and probably 16 in the last two years.
"It's something we need to address and play more Test cricket. I'm sure the guys will feel that as well. It's just getting the correct balance between T20 cricket and Test cricket."
Concerned: South African great Jaaques Kallis.Credit: Getty Images
Kallis said the game could not afford to slide towards a future where only the so-called big three – Australia, England and India – played meaningful Test cricket because the longer format does not provide players from certain countries with the same opportunities lucrative Twenty20 competitions do.
"We don't want that," he warned. "We need to grow the game, not lessen it."
Kallis implored the ICC to revisit the idea of playing a Test championship to ensure the five-day format retains its relevance for all nations.
The Test championship was proposed in 2010 and designed to allow the four best-performed nations to compete in play-offs. However, it was scuttled in 2013 because of financial difficulties. The championship was supposed to have been played in 2017, but it was scrapped.
Kallis said it was crucial the authorities worked hard to ensure the concept gets off the ground.
"I really do think they need to look at the [Test] championship ... it needs to happen just to put extra value on the Test matches, so every Test match means something," Kallis said.
He also endorsed the recent call made by former Australia Test captain Steve Waugh for the ICC to introduce uniform Test match payments to ensure players are paid equally.
Waugh, who nominated the poor crowds attending Tests as cricket's biggest issue, described the prospect of a player of AB de Villiers' calibre abandoning Test cricket for South Africa to play in domestic Twenty20 leagues as "catastrophic".
"It's probably not a bad idea; how you're going to get it through I don't know," he said. "It would be great, it's not a bad call, but I suppose we're a long way away from that at the moment.
"There are a few countries who are getting paid real good money for Test cricket and other sides don't have the finance for it. How they're going to work that out I don't know, but I don't think it's a bad call and we certainly need to find a way to look after Test cricket."