(Photo by Duif du Toit/Gallo Images/Getty Images)
Apart from these two examples, the rest of the cricket world (India's Test pitches aren't that great either, but they merit a pass) seem to be able to produce pitches that offer a fine contest between bat and ball, with the odd exception.
The game itself is entrenched in world cricket culture. Most fans (ones that are over the age of 20) were raised on the game, with ODIs as a sweetener after the Test series had concluded. Since then, the game has changed dramatically with Twenty20 being the new sensation, though that feeling isn't going to last for long at the current rate.
So why the sudden change of heart? Is Test cricket unhealthy around the world? The Ashes is beginning soon, and South Africa's contest with England last year is a riveting affair. They will be touring SA this year, always a fun tour with the Barmy Army being a great bunch of cricket lovers. Sri Lanka, Pakistan (when playing away) and India always generates buzz considering the complex relationship between these different cricket powers.
Australia, very much the team to beat even two years ago, always generates excitement considering they are still one of the best sides going around. The West Indies, though a problem child, is a great place for teams to tour. Bangladesh is still finding it's feet (another cliche) and New Zealand has always produced a fighting team (and Bond is back).
What reducing Tests to four days and making them day night affairs will do is free up more space on the calendar. Who gets those extra days is easy to guess: Twenty20. The ICC appears content to gorge itself on Twenty20 till they overdose, irrespective of other cricket formats. It's a slippery slope if there ever was one.
Perhaps we are the ones, the fans that can't let go of the original cricket format, who don't see the commercial pressures and the need for the game to modernise. Maybe we are one step away from abandoning the game altogether, but damn, most of us just don't see it.
Cricket's supporters (and this isn't a slight against other sports, just an observation) have the intellect to appreciate where the game is in relation to macro-economics. The ICC seem to take cricket fans as a bunch of chumps.
Cricket's need to modernise is stripping the game of its soul. Would you want to go watch a Test match if it were a day/night affair? I wouldn't because that isn't what Test cricket is. If the game changed, they might as well call it "Super" cricket or some other name, because calling it Test cricket would be an injustice.
The real problem lies in the currency of cost, because since TV became involved, events have only been going one way. They are the ones who pressure boards to produce a five-day pitch that guarantees a result. Ask any groundsman: that isn't easy.
It is TV money that is turning red-blooded administrators green. Players shouldn't be blamed since all they can do is take advantage of what is put in front of him.
The ICC are using the lexicon of "primacy" as a tool to quietly run a coup over the foundations of cricket's most prized history. They are using the need to keep it "cool" to create more space for Twenty20 and to enrich the bottom line, not the game itself.
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