Brian Lara has called for giving Test cricket importance outside India, Australia, and England as well ahead of West Indies’ first Test against Australia.

West Indies are touring Australia for an all-format series starting January 17. The first leg of the tour will be a two-Test series with matches to be played in Adelaide and Brisbane respectively.

Lara, who is in Australia as a part of the commentary and broadcasting team, spoke to The Age about the current state of affairs and the future of Test cricket.

South Africa recently named a second (or third) string squad for their upcoming Test tour of New Zealand with most of their first-choice players unavailable due to the second season of the SA20. Even West Indies’ squad for the Australia Test series is a depleted one with several new faces.

Lara said that he understood the players’ perspective when it came to securing their finances by choosing T20 cricket over Tests: “I can’t begrudge any player for making financial decisions to secure their future.”

“Sport as a whole is a very short-term thing, cricket you never know when you’re in or you’re out, and we just have to find some sort of middle ground where all cricket prospers – not just English cricket, Australian cricket or Indian cricket.”

Lara pointed out South Africa’s new-look Test squad for the New Zealand series and said that he barely recognised anyone in that group. He also reiterated the importance of not letting Test cricket get restricted to the ‘Big Three’ – India, Australia, and England.

“You want your best team playing international cricket. South Africa will have their reasons but when I did look at the team there was not one name that I knew. It is a very compact schedule, trying to force all three forms of the game in.

“As someone who has played Test cricket, the love I have for the game, it is something I don’t want to see die. I’m hoping that we can find a way outside that triangle of nations of India, Australia and England to bring back importance to West Indies, Pakistan, New Zealand and South Africa.”

Lara also reminisced about the good old days of West Indies cricket when they used to be the team to beat: “Back in those days, the halcyon days of West Indies cricket in the 1970s and ’80s, we were almost in Australia or England every other year, and we were the fancied team to tour around the world,” Lara said. “India is now, for obvious reasons.”

The last time West Indies toured Australia was in December 2022 when they played two Tests both of which they lost. They currently sit seventh on the World Test Championship points table with one defeat and one draw to their name from two games.

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