“I think Test cricket won’t be around in 10 years”: NRL legend and cricket great go head-to-head

Things got fiery on morning one of the new SENQ Breakfast program, with NRL great Corey Parker making the broad declaration that Test cricket won’t exist in 10-15 years.

Naturally, co-host Ian Healy strongly disagreed – pointing to the enormity of the Border-Gavaskar series between Australia and India that finished only weeks ago.

Here’s how the discussion played out on SENQ’s Coz and Heals:

Parker: “Is there future in Test cricket? Like moving forward, I'm not saying next year, the year after I'm saying, in 10 years time, will Test cricket still be around?

Healy: “Yes (it will be). Richie Benaud told me that he was being told in the 50s that Test cricket is dead. Right in 2024 and 2025 we had 93,000 at the MCG.”

Parker: “Yeah, the Aussies will turn up for anything. If there's an excuse to have a cold beverage and watch a bit of live sport, they'll turn up. Really, I'm talking like I watched a little bit of the cricket. It was tough watching.”

Healy: “It’s tough playing, mate.”

Parker: “That’s exactly my point. You've got this T20, you've got the ODI cricket and this exciting brand of cricket, and then you've got test and you've got these young kids coming in, like Konstas and the like, who are flipping things around. That's my point. And they want to play that flamboyant style, and then you try and coach them just to be boring and do the boring things.”

Healy: “No, we don’t. That bit is wrong.”

Parker: “Okay. Well I think Test cricket won’t be around in 10 years.”

Healy: “Okay, so what will be around?”

Parker: “Well, cricket will still be around. People don't have the patience to watch. People don't have the patience to watch five days of cricket.”

Healy: “What do you mean 90,000 went for four days in a row? 350,000 went to the MCG. So there's plenty of patience out there if it's if it's quality, and you're playing quality.”

Parker: “If you watch the Test cricket being played right around the world, and we watched a bit in Pakistan (versus England) not long ago, and the scores were going ridiculous because people couldn't get out. They'll just hit them forever. I don't know, I’m just posing the question.”