Why Test Cricket is Waiting to be Coined
CLR James' Beyond a Boundary describes life as a metaphor for cricket.
Loosely translated, this means our games are a reflection of our institutions and cultures.
From here, we can induce the institutions which reflect in our games.
And from this basis, we can work toward the posit that Test Cricket is Waiting to be Coined.
Reflections on the Nature and Quality of Money
Crudely stated, we understand inflation as an influence on the purchasing power of the thing (or things) we work for and toward. Crude because we continually reflect without necessarily understanding what inflation actually is.
To paraphrase Keynes long term we are all dead, our lives are asymptotically pre-defined. So we can deduce the Keynesian attempt to manage the purchasing power of money as noble but ultimately futile in its reflection of the longest and widest value trend we observe (life).
Why Test Cricket will Always be the Purest Form
There was once such a thing as timeless test cricket. This indicated the purest form of the game because it limited the arbitrary restrictions on the rules we play for and toward.
To contend on this, we can regard test cricket as pure because it is less political and restrictive.
New Spectacles
The modern and recent trend in cricket has gravitated toward shorter formats which are embodied in the commercial success and popularity of T20 and events like the IPL. It attracts attention because is reduces the demands on the attention required to spectate.
As a result, it attracts the best players because of participation incentives.
We can therefore contend the IPL is popular because it works to more rules and limits. We can also deduce this political nature has made cricket more popular but less trusting as a result — which explains the increased emphasis on technology in assisting game management, because of what’s at stake.
From here, we can return to the original point that life is a metaphor for cricket. And from this point, we can look at revolutionising our games by revolutionising the incentives we play for and toward (money).
Time; Ladies and Gentleman
Bitcoin is a new form of money which works on an asymptotic basis: it reflects the value trend we observe in the style of our lives (long term, we are all dead) by pre-defining a (predictable) rate of supply which tends to zero (no more coins can be mined after the year 2140).
If the governance of cricket — which is concerned by the decline in popularity of its traditional banner standard — can perhaps see this is a reflection of the quality of our money, then it may look at coining test cricket by aligning it with this new form of money (Bitcoin) as a de facto gold.
I further contend this will attract new audiences because such an incentive would naturally fit and thrive from a Moneyball type scenario and toward a meditative, natural, and politically neutral state of play.
