As I write this editorial, another world cup has come round. This time it is the women’s T20. T20, for the uninitiated, is the shortest form of cricket. Each team has twenty overs (that’s 120 balls) to score as many runs as possible. It’s typically fast and exciting, with a premium on big hitting, theatre and spectacle. Its rise in popularity has had a fundamental impact on the cricket as a whole. Politically, it has shifted the centre of power over the game to India (where T20 is most popular) and away from England. The nations represented in the current women’s world cup are not all from traditional cricket playing nations (which roughly means that they are not all part of the Commonwealth). But some people have questioned whether short forms of cricket (and there are several) are eroding the traditional game. In particular, test cricket seems to be under threat. Test cricket is the longest form of the game, as played at the international level. A test lasts five days, with the expectation that at least 90 overs are bowled in a day. Each team gets two opportunities to bat, and in contrast to short forms of cricket, a team bats for as long as it can (its innings ending only when all its batters are out). It is noticeable that test cricket plays a very small part in the international women’s game. An international series will typically be contested through various short games, perhaps with a token test match. Women’s cricket might then be seen to be heralding the format that will be the future of all cricket. But, if the test match were to die out something important will be lost. Sports pose their own distinctive challenges to their players, and as such their own distinctive explorations of what it is to be human. The rules of test cricket have a significant peculiarity. They entail that a team’s objectives in a game are skewed. When batting, a team’s initial goal is not to win, but rather not to lose. More precisely, the team seeks to bat for so long that there is insufficient time left to bowl it out twice. If neither team can bowl out its opponents twice the game is called a ‘draw’. (It’s actually ‘no result’ but cricket terminology rarely worries too much about the niceties of ordinary English language usage.) So, not losing takes precedence over winning. What this means is that test cricket encourages slow, defensive play. Not losing your wicket (i.e. not getting out) is more important than scoring runs. This is the opposite of T20. It’s hard to bowl out a whole team in twenty overs, so even if an individual is out, there is nearly always a replacement waiting. Test cricket poses an important and demanding challenge to the batter, and through that challenge, it might be suggested, offers a profound exploration and even a reminder of what it is to be human. The test batter might be expected to bat for several hours if not, on extreme occasions, days. Test cricket thus requires patience and self-discipline to stay in (and to ‘build an innings’ in cricketing terminology). In a fast, consumerist society, test cricket offers a perhaps nostalgic glimpse of a world where the capacity for deferred gratification was still to be valued. The concern prompted by the rise of T20 was that this SPORT, ETHICS AND PHILOSOPHY 2020, VOL. 14, NO. 2, 127–128 https://doi.org/10.1080/17511321.2020.1736380

中文翻译：

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板球之死

当我写这篇社论时，又发生了另一个世界杯。这次是女子T20。对于初学者来说，T20是板球的最短形式。每支球队都有20个控球区（即120个球），以尽可能多地得分。这通常是快速而令人兴奋的，并且在大片，戏剧和奇观上都具有溢价。它的受欢迎程度对整个板球产生了根本性的影响。从政治上讲，它已经将游戏的重心转移到了印度（T20最受欢迎）和印度。本届女子世界杯代表的国家并非全部来自传统的板球比赛国家（这大致意味着它们并非英联邦的一部分）。但是有人质疑短板球（有几种）是否正在侵蚀传统比赛。特别是，板球比赛似乎正受到威胁。在国际上，板球是比赛中最长的比赛形式。测试持续五天，预期一天至少要打90次以上。每支球队都有两次击球的机会，与简短的板球比赛相反，一支球队会尽可能地进行击球（只有当所有击球手都出局后，比赛才会结束）。值得注意的是，板球在国际女子比赛中只占很小的一部分。国际系列通常会通过各种短打比赛进行比赛，也许还会进行象征性的测试比赛。女子板球运动将被视为预示着所有板球运动的未来。但是，如果测试比赛失败了，那么重要的事情将会丢失。体育给运动员带来了独特的挑战，因此，他们对人类的独特探索。板球规则有很大的特点。他们要求团队的目标在比赛中出现偏差。击球时，球队的最初目标不是赢，而是输。更准确地说，该团队寻求击球的时间太长，以至于没有足够的时间将其击出两次。如果两支球队都不能两次击败对手，则这场比赛称为“平局”。（这实际上是“没有结果”，但板球术语很少担心普通英语用法的优点。）因此，不输优先于获胜。这意味着测试板球鼓励缓慢的防守比赛。不丢掉自己的门（即不离开比赛）比得分比赛更为重要。这与T20相反。很难让整个团队经历20场比赛，因此即使一个人缺席，也几乎总是会有替补球员在等待。板球对击球手提出了重要而艰巨的挑战，通过提出这一挑战，它可能会提出深刻的探索，甚至提醒人们要成为什么样的人。如果在极端情况下几天，击球手可能会击打数小时。因此，测试板球需要耐心和自律，以保持（并在板球术语中“树立局面”）。在一个快速的，消费主义的社会中，板球可能带给我们一种怀旧的瞥见，在这个世界上，递延满足的能力仍然很重要。T20的兴起引起了人们的关注，即本《体育，道德和哲学2020年》卷。14号 2，127–128 https://doi.org/10.1080/17511321.2020。