Test cricket is losing popularity: MCC study

Melbourne: A study conducted by the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), the custodian of the game, has raised fresh doubts on the future of Test cricket.

The study revealed that only seven per cent of followers in cricket-crazy India nominate Tests as their preferred form of the game.

The poll commissioned by Lord's-based MCC covered fans in three countries where Test crowds have declined - India, South Africa and New Zealand.

On the basis of the results, MCC's World Cricket Committee have requested the administrators to give the longest form of the game the "loving care and attention" it deserves.

"It's not as if the game is falling apart, but it has been scooped by Twenty20 and I think we would be foolish if we didn't think it was universal," former England captain Tony Lewis, who chairs the committee, was quoted as saying by The Age.

MCC is trying to push its cause for Tests to be staged at night and the global Test championship.

The key findings were presented to the International Cricket Council (ICC) earlier this month in Dubai and both groups reaffirmed their commitment to preserving all three forms.