The whites, crisp green grass, pressure, grit, skill, pull-overs ... Test Cricket, where you at bruh?

Dear Test Cricket,

How go thee? It's been a while and I can vouch for absence making the heart grow fonder. I mean, I barely got to see you over the summer as your coloured clothing mates took all the attention and what I did get to see of you, only made me want you more.

I get it, you had to go on your retreat. You had to get away from the mayhem of city living and go bush, as we all should. You'll be happy to know that your T20 mate got plenty of love, you've helped T20 emerge and at the end of the day, we only want the best for cricket so I won't be bitter that T20 got all the focus while you were away.

Actually, it was kinda good not to have you. Just something different ya know?

But I can sense that the beast has awakened. You're back, lurking on the horizon and with a little patience we shall see you soon enough.

While I love you Test Cricket and I guess this is testament to our relationship - that I can be all the way real with you - I'm more excited about who and what you will bring back from your retreat.

You see, people do a lot of talking about Test Cricket, about your future and your values. I'm more concerned with who the best team in the world is, who the best young players are and which veterans are capable of going to even greater heights.

I know you'll provide answers in the near-future, I can't help but keep myself up late at night pondering whether Australia can maintain their perch as the best team in the world. I kinda actually like Australia as anyone who comes into that team turns out to be pretty damn good and they've managed to stay at the top after losing a golden generation of cricketers.

Are England actually going all-in on this fun vibe? And will in provide sustained success?

South Africa? They got touched up by England at home, just as New Zealand got touched up at home. Both teams could take a genuine shot at being the best, however right now they lack that polish, I'm intrigued.

It's not like India, Sri Lanka and Pakistan suck either.

Test Cricket, can you work some of your magic on West Indian cricket? Not your revival magic, just the magic of youth because I reckon that should just exclusively look at young players and map out their future.

Speaking of youth, as much as I love watching Alistair Cook, James Anderson, AB de Villiers, Hashim Amla, Ross Taylor, Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel, Angelo Mathews and the other experienced campaigners who are amazing, I can't contain my excitement at seeing the next wave come through.

That wave has already swept the beach as we've got Joe Root, Virat Kohli, Kane Williamson, Steve Smith, Trent Boult, Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Strac, Ben Stokes, Ajinkya Rahane etc leading the pack.

It's been a while however since we've had such talented youngsters across a variety of nations really standing up and showing what they are capable of. Kagiso Rabada from South Africa, Mustafizur Rahman from Bangladesh and Dushmantha Chameera from Sri Lanka will keep any cricket nerd interested in their progress. We're all intigued by how Ish Sodhi and Mitchell Santner transfer their T20 work to Test cricket as well for New Zealand, while Quinton de Kock has already shown in a very young career that he's a gun across all formats with the bat for South Africa.

And that's why we both appreciate T20 cricket as it provides another platform for cricketers, mainly young cricketers to show what they are working with. Secretly though, we also both know what the pinacle is and that's Test Cricket.

All that limited overs cricket has me curious as to who can prove that they are true-blue cricketing stars, it's one thing to be good at T20 cricket but Test Cricket? Well you're a different beast aren't ya?

I've missed you. I've missed checking ESPN Cricinfo to see how a Test on the other side of the world is looking, checking who's rising to the challenge and who's nothing more than a T20 mercenary. I like the mayhem of Test Cricket when there's multiple series' going down, different conditions, different challenges, different teams, it's all there.

See you soon,

Diggity Do-Da Diddily Dumbo Doc