But Mathews essentially asks what value the cricket world places in Test cricket any more, if the scheduling is so lopsided.
He is not correct on how long it’s been since Sri Lanka’s last Test before this one. It has been seven months.
“Everyone’s talking about Test cricket dying, but we’re not doing any good for Test cricket playing only five Tests a year. Hopefully we’ll get more matches this year. Five feels like not enough.”
In fact, right through the WTC cycle to follow this one, Sri Lanka are not scheduled to play a single three-Test series. Meanwhile, India, Australia, and England, routinely play five-Test series against each other through the same period. At the worst, they play four-Test series.
The WTC structure requires the teams that qualify to play an equal number of WTC series between each other through the course of the cycle. But aside from India, England, and Australia (the Big Three), most other sides play two-Test series, aside from when they play one of the Big Three sides, when they may have a three-Test encounter on the books.