ENGLAND’S current Test series with South Africa, which ends with the final Test that begins in Centurion this morning, has been a classic. The cricket has been intensely competitive, the standard of play has been refreshingly high and the momentum has ebbed and flowed throughout the three matches to date.

England have played superbly, enhancing their claim to be regarded as the most in-form side in the world thanks to a succession of sensational performances. Ben Stokes’ record-breaking double-century in Cape Town, Joe Root’s artistic century in the third Test and Stuart Broad’s game-changing spell of five wickets for one run shortly after all represent passages of play that merit a place in the annals of the game.

For all that there have been other notable successes in the last decade or so, it is hard to recall an England side with so much promise or ability. They have swept aside the top-ranked team in the world in their own backyard, and boast the added bonus of appearing thoroughly likeable to boot. In a sporting world crying out for role models, England are overflowing with impressive candidates.

So you might expect an outpouring of praise. In cricketing circles, there has been. But in a wider context, it’s impossible to claim that England’s cricketers have received the recognition their feats over the last month or so deserve. That is a crying shame given the quality of their performances, but it should also be a major worry for those charged with overseeing the future of the game.

Why has the current series made such a limited impact outside the confines of those consumed by cricket? There are multiple factors, and the absence of Test cricket from the terrestrial television schedules is surely a factor.

This time around, there hasn’t even been a highlights package on Channel Five from South Africa, and while other sports have flourished despite throwing in their lot with Sky Sports – darts and rugby league provide two notable examples – cricket’s close relationship with the satellite broadcaster has undoubtedly led to a lack of exposure.

It helps explain why there wasn’t a single cricketer on the BBC’S Sports Personality of the Year shortlist last month, even though England had just completed a summer schedule that saw them win the Ashes, and is something that the ECB have to address.

For all that the Premier League has signed a record-breaking new deal with Sky and BT Sport, so much of the weekend footballing agenda continues to be dominated by what is said on Match of the Day.

Coverage on the BBC and ITV still counts, and while Sky’s financial clout means it is impossible to turn back the clock and return to an era when Test matches were given wall-to-wall coverage on BBC One, the return of a terrestrial highlights package, preferably on the BBC, should be a priority. Even if the ECB had to give away the rights for it, the investment would be worthwhile.

However, simply returning Test cricket to terrestrial TV screens wouldn’t solve the problems the most prestigious form of the game is facing.

The harsh reality – and as someone who values cricketing heritage, this isn’t easy to say – is that Test cricket simply doesn’t matter as much anymore.

That remains an unpalatable truth to plenty of people, but I’m convinced it helps explain why the current Test series is not at the top of most sporting discussions.

In most parts of the world, the brutal reality is that Test cricket is dying. In India, New Zealand and the West Indies, it’s already something of an afterthought, eclipsed by the one-day game and the seemingly unstoppable growth of domestic and international Twenty20s. All three of those nations have seen some of their leading players turn their back on Test cricket completely in the last few years.

South African cricket is in a state of chaos, and the fear is that the situation will mirror that of the West Indies and turn into a rapid decline. As ever in South African sport, political and social factors are playing a part, but the financial incentives are simply not there for the leading players to focus on Test matches and so they head off elsewhere to make their riches.

Australia used to be a buttress to the diminishing status of the five-day game, but while the recent Test series with the West Indies was played out to alarmingly sparse crowds, 50-60,000 people have been packing into the MCG to watch the likes of Chris Gayle and Kevin Pietersen thrash the ball around in the Big Bash. Increasingly, even Australia’s cricket fans are voting with their feet.

Test attendances in England continue to hold up, but if the level of interest in the opposition isn’t there, the England team will quickly find themselves with no one meaningful to play against. And if the matches suddenly don’t mean as much, the crowds will stay away.

So what can be done to address the problem? If the International Cricket Council are serious about defending Test cricket – and sadly, that can’t be taken as a given – then there need to be much more incentives for the established nations to take the five-day form of the game seriously.

A meaningful World Test Championship might help, particularly if qualification for lucrative shorter-form competitions like the World Cup or World Twenty20 was linked to it, while there should also be a willingness to be much more flexible when it comes to the Test format. The recent trial of a day-night Test in Australia was a decent start.

The provision of competitive Test pitches is also critical to the survival of that form of the game. While flat batting tracks are ideal for the bish and bash of Twenty20, they are killing Test cricket as a spectacle. England’s recent series with Pakistan in the United Arab Emirates was all but unwatchable in patches because the wickets were so poor.

One of the features of the current series in South Africa is that the wickets for the first and third Test were superb. They encouraged a competitive battle between bat and ball, and it is no coincidence that the two matches were consequently amongst the best in recent memory. Particularly in the sub-continent, there should be much harsher punishments for serving up sub-standard pitches.

The last month has highlighted that while England’s Test fortunes continue to go from strength to strength, the five-day game as a whole is edging towards the critical list. That needs to be adequately acknowledged, along with the quality of England’s play.