Should Tests be cut to four days?

For almost seven decades, the fiveday Test has been a beloved “feature of the English summer”, said Nick Hoult in The Sunday Telegraph. But that will end in three years, if the England and Wales Cricket Board gets its way. It is leading the push for Tests to be reduced to four days, and will “put its weight behind the switch” at the International Cricket Council’s meeting next month. In England, four-day Tests would start half an hour earlier, allowing for more overs in a day, and make it easier to balance the Test schedule with domestic Twenty20.

This is really about money, said Tristan Holme on Cricbuzz. In rich countries, shorter Tests would “maximise” boards’ corporate income; in poorer ones, such as Zimbabwe, they would cut costs. But it shouldn’t disturb us overmuch. There is a long tradition of four-day Tests: 134 were played between 1906 and 1973. And in an unplanned way, they’re now becoming the norm: this year, for the first time, “more Tests have finished inside four days than have gone to five”. Which is sad, said Mike Atherton in The Times. Five-day matches tend to be the most exciting ones. The “best day’s cricket this year” came last month, when the West Indies won a “nailbiting” Test on the final day (pictured). Shortening Tests won’t address the real problem – the “brutal schedule” that will soon force players and fans to choose between Tests and T20. Unless that is resolved, Test cricket is doomed to “slide into irrelevance”.