Test cricket is the epitome of the sport. The best players are put through a rigorous evaluation of their skills, adaptability, and mental strength, which is what the name of the format suggests.
It is not easy to play a Test match and it gets even tougher when the team finds itself in hostile grounds. This is one of the reasons why victories in away Tests are treasured for a long time. (Think about India’s series wins in Australia during 2018-19 and 2020-21.)
On the other hand, the visiting teams have to tackle numerous challenges which have a heavy toll on their performance in away Tests.
You may ask what challenges? Well, in this article, I will point out 6 hurdles that the travelling team is going through in the test of cricket. Let’s see the first one!
1. Travel Fatigue
If you have ever gone on a long flight overseas, you have probably experienced the feeling of jet-lag as a result of the time difference. A similar scenario is experienced by the travelling cricket teams.
Now consider the situation when the New Zealand cricket team is going to England for a Test series. The time difference between New Zealand and the UK is about 11-12 hours.
So, after the Kiwis arrive in the UK, they need to move their body clock to the UK time zone. And this might be a hard job for the first few days as the players struggle with staying up at night and sleeping in the daytime. This whole process causes disturbances in a player’s sleep cycle and thus affects focus and energy levels negatively.
2. Getting Familiar with the Playing Conditions
This is one of the most important things to address in an away Test match. The players have to get used to the not-so-familiar playing conditions.
Allow me to clarify this with an analogy.
Let’s say that the England tour to India is happening, and the conditions hardly support swing bowlers. This means that the top swing bowler of England, James Anderson, will find it quite hard to perform his swing. He may get some swing while using the fresh ball, but the old ball is very tricky to swing. Therefore, one of the spinning variations has to be developed by Anderson that will eventually cause problems to the batters when the old ball is in play.
3. Fewer or No Warmup Matches
The best way to get used to the playing conditions is to have warm-up or practice matches before the main series. But today’s international calendar is so busy that teams have a hard time finding slots for practice games.
The recent Ashes series is the best example of Australia not playing any warm-up match against an English county team.
Due to lack of practice, the teams may find it difficult to perform before the home crowd.
4. Inconsistent Weather
The visiting team will have a tough time trying to understand the weather of the host country.
Imagine the scenario that England is playing a Test series in Australia during the hottest season, where the temperatures reach about 40 degrees Celcius. The average temperature in the UK varies between 9 to 23 degrees, and on rare occasions, it can be up to 30 degrees.
You were just in the UK 4-5 days back, and now you are playing Test matches in scorching heat not just for 1 day but for 5 days straight! So the England team would get the same problem while playing in Australia’s summer.
The weather can be a factor that makes a player suffer physically, taking away his vitality. Besides, sometimes even the home players suffer from this.
5. Adjusting with a Different Cricket Ball
Now you probably are thinking very loudly, “Are you serious?”
In fact, I am very serious.
The thing is that not all countries prefer the use of cricket balls from the same manufacturer.
For example, a match in England and the West Indies will witness the Dukes ball. The Kookaburra ball has been the choice of the boards in Sub-continent (excluding India), Australia, and New Zealand. While the SG balls in India are for Tests.
This situation makes it very difficult for the players to switch over to different cricket balls, and that too, in a very short time. And now the players are facing two types of Test cricket balls—one of the red variety and the other of the pink variety.
6. Mental Wellbeing
This is the least talked about aspect of playing a Test, not to mention the conditions of play away from home. In recent times, some players have gone on sabbatical to seek improvement in their mental health.
As I said before, Test cricket puts a player’s mental toughness to the test. Battling through such an extended series can be quite taxing for the mind.
Additionally, if we consider the aspect of separation from one’s family and friends, it becomes even worse. This may, more or less, reflect on the individual player’s performance through the entire series.
Conclusion
For us, the fans, it is much simpler to judge by simply sitting in front of the TV screens. But it is not that easy to fight it out in such difficult away conditions.
Also, the visiting team contend against the odds, trying to familiarize themselves with the new conditions and, consequently, offering the spectators a thrilling Test match. Next time you catch your favorite team or player in an away series struggling, remember all those hardworking cricketers.
