Test Cricket: England Suffers Stalemate at Lord's—Again!

After over two full days of effort and toil in the field, England were able to conjure just three of the ten South African Wickets they required for victory.

An England team which forced South Africa to follow-on with 15 minutes of the third day to play and a further two days in hand would have had every reason to be eminently confident of victory at practically every venue the cricketing world over.

But as this potentially intriguing match was being contested at Lord's, perhaps we should not be so surprised that victory was not the final outcome.

The draw in the first NPower test match makes it an unenviable record of five draws in the last seven test matches at the "home of cricket", and nine in the last 11 in London all together.

With the solitary win during this sequence coming against Bangladesh in 2005, a disconcerting pattern seems to be emerging between tests played in the capital city.

Having dominated the first three days at Lord's, England appeared set to clinch an important victory and, in doing so, potentially silence their doubters—and more importantly strike the first blow in what is set to be a testing series.

However, once again, the slow, lifeless Lord's wicket has acted to hinder any such ambitions, as England's clear efforts with the ball proved to be all in vain in what was ultimately a comfortably salvaged draw for the South Africans.

It brings in to question whether some form of action needs to be taken in order to stem this sequence of stalemates, and, in doing so, surely producing more competitive and exciting encounters in London in the longer form of the game.

After all, we could indulge all day in admiration of the intricacies and intriguing—if sometimes bizarre—facets of test match cricket. But at the end of the day, as with all sports, it's a results business and also a form of entertainment.

And the final two days of this test were far from exciting. The rapid growth of the Twenty20 format has acted to highlight this issue even more, and if test match cricket really is to survive in the fast-changing cricketing world, then entertainment and positive results should surely be prioritised.

So what must be done in order to attain this fragile balance between cricketing tradition and a more positive outlook?

Everyone wants to see the top batsmen at the peak being allowed to play shots and bat out centuries. However, it's important also to consider producing pitches that will also give something for the bowlers—after all, lower scoring matches can also be very entertaining.

Ground staff at Lord's and at other venues around the world could perhaps be accused of creating wickets which are just too good and too true, allowing the batsmen too much security.

Australian captain Ricky Ponting has been quoted recently as saying that test match wickets around the world have become increasingly slower in recent years. This would suggest that our problem is prevalent on a much wider scale.

Although, if you study the facts, it becomes evident that just 26% of all test matches played around the world during in this decade have ended in draws.

This is a significantly lower proportion than the previous decade and much lower than the '70s and '80s.

Also, if you focus on England during the last three years (the period during which nine of the 11 London tests have ended in draws), of the tests contested at out grounds around the country, the majority have culminated in an England victory, with just one draw over this period.

So, perhaps there isn't really an issue to be resolved, or, if there is, it may be confined to just a few locations such as Lord's and The Oval.

What's certain, however, is that South Africa are unlikely to perform as poorly as they did in the opening days of this first test match again during the series, and therefore the pitch at Lord's may have just played a role in denying England the best opportunity they are likely to get in the series.

As so many test matches are certain to be played in London for the foreseeable future, it seems advisable that the ECB seeks a solution to the stalemates, otherwise risk continuing to grant visiting teams a comfortable draw in future series.

For now, though, we can rest assured that the coming second test at Headingly is far less likely to end in such a manner. Whether that will be to England's benefit or not, we will have to wait and see.