As an ex-fast bowler, I will never complain about seeing wickets fall.

There is nothing wrong with a lively pitch, quality bowling or the occasional Test-match thumping.

Collapses have always been part of cricket. Sometimes a team simply has a terrible innings. Sometimes the opposition’s ability is uneven, particularly when a less experienced side faces an elite attack away from home or is playing in unfamiliar conditions. That is sport.

My concern is what happens if two and three-day Test matches become too common.

Australia’s victory over Bangladesh in Mackay was the 28th men’s Test to finish inside two days. That is still only about one per cent of the 2,632 Tests played, so statistically it is not yet the norm.

The recent trend, however, is difficult to ignore.

Fifteen of those two-day Tests occurred before 1947, when uncovered pitches and vastly different conditions could produce extraordinary results. No two-day Test was played between 1947 and 1999.

Since 2000, there have been 13. Seven have come since 2021.

Australia has played in 15 of the 28 two-day Tests and hosted four since December 2022: Brisbane, Perth, Melbourne and now Mackay.

Pitches have been responsible for some of them. The Gabba surface against South Africa in 2022 was rated below average, while the MCG pitch used during the 2025 Boxing Day Test was rated unsatisfactory.

But blaming the pitch every time is too convenient.

The two-day Perth Ashes pitch was rated very good, but poor decisions by batsmen were the cause. The bowlers had some early assistance in Mackay, but I did not see a surface that made batting impossible. I saw some great bowling, and some poor shot selection.

Bangladesh made 64 and 95. Australia won by an innings despite being dismissed for only 210. That should concern anyone who loves Test cricket.

For me, the biggest influence is Twenty20 cricket. Most modern players have grown up in an environment that rewards attacking shots, boundary-hitting and constant scoreboard movement.

T20 has improved batting in many ways. Players now have shots and scoring options that previous generations never imagined. But I also believe it has influenced how some batters respond when conditions become difficult.

Patience can appear negative. Leaving the ball can feel like a lost opportunity. Surviving a difficult hour is no longer celebrated in the same way as counterattacking.

Yet that is part of the beauty of Test cricket.

Sometimes batting is not about imposing yourself on the game. It is about absorbing pressure, trusting your defence and accepting that the bowler might be on top for an entire session.

Test cricket is supposed to examine every part of a player’s game and character. If the answer to every difficult period becomes attacking our way out of trouble, we risk losing the art of survival.

Short Tests also carry financial consequences. A Test match involves far more than the players. Supporters organise travel and take time away from work. Venues employ staff, vendors order supplies and broadcasters schedule five days of coverage.

For a regional city such as Mackay, hosting a Test is a major event. Hotels, restaurants and local businesses prepare for visitors across five days. When the match finishes before the end of day two, much of that opportunity disappears.

The same applies at major venues. Empty days mean ticket refunds, lost hospitality revenue and fewer people spending money around the ground and so on.

I don’t need to see every Test artificially reaching the final hour of day five, although some of the greatest Test matches have come down to the final hour and are the most exciting. Conditions should vary, bowlers should be rewarded, and occasionally one side will be completely outplayed.

But two and three-day Tests should remain the exception.

Test cricket has survived because it offers something the shorter formats cannot - time, pressure, changing conditions and the possibility of a contest transforming over five days.

The game will continue to evolve, as it always has. But if Test cricket evolves into a longer version of T20 cricket, where patience and the art of defence disappear, and 210 is enough to win by an innings, we should not pretend that is progress.