NASSER HUSSAIN
Former England captain
NOI AM not an old fogey always harking back to the past and I’m happy to move with the times — but I am strongly against four-day Test cricket. We have shorter formats as it is. Why can’t you let a Test develop over time, with twists and turns along the way, as the best ones do? Why does everything have to be reduced to the bare minimum these days? I don’t get the urgency. I don’t mind pitches that are prepared with a four-day finish in mind and a first-innings par score of 300, as at Centurion, but you need that extra day to make sure you get a decent finish. The danger with four-day Tests is we will get grassy surfaces that go too far in the bowlers’ favour, like at Lord’s against Ireland last summer, because groundsmen will be worried about boring draws or contrived finishes if you get a day or so of rain. We are struggling to produce good spinners as it is. This will make it even worse. There are so many more important issues the ICC should be looking at. I find it unbelievable in modern times, for instance, that they can turn on the floodlights at a ground yet still march off for bad light. How about looking at ticket prices and improving the spectator experience at the ground, because it’s often a better experience watching on television. Youngsters want good WiFi at grounds and shelter when it rains. And the biggest problem of all which the ICC need to sort out is poor over rates, because we are struggling to get 90 in a day as it is. It’s fine if this move leads to a reduction in the amount of cricket, but it won’t achieve that. All they will do is fill in the gaps with even more cricket. And if governing bodies don’t do that, franchises certainly will. Some of the great Tests have ended on the fifth day and the public are perfectly happy with Monday finishes. I attended a supporters’ function here in South Africa the other night and asked people about this. They were all happy with Test cricket the way it is. A good Test is like a good book. Let it develop and give it time. If it ends in four days, so be it. But you need the option of a fifth one. This is not for me.