Four-day Tests? No, ban captains for slow play
MY first thought when I heard Colin Graves moot his idea of four-day Tests was that we’d be looking at one hell of a long day in the office. Graves wants each day to contain 105 overs — rather than the current set-up of five days of 90 overs — but the sad truth about Test cricket is that it just seems to be getting slower. And I’m talking about over-rates, not run-rates. If players are struggling to bowl 90 overs, how on earth are they going to get through 105? We’ll be there come the 10 o’clock news! I know that one of my favourite phrases is ‘Start the car!’, but another — and I’ve been shouting it at Sky viewers a lot recently — is ‘Get on with the game!’ It drives me mad watching the numerous stoppages that take place, from drinks break, to the 12th man running on for a natter, to groundsmen arriving with all manner of implements. Then there are the inevitable stoppages for technology. If Graves knows of a way to speed things up, then fantastic. But I fear he’ll be up against it. And broadcasters won’t like the change in their schedules either. I played at a time when 18 overs an hour in county cricket was mandatory. They didn’t even need a minimum number in Test cricket, because bowlers simply got through their six balls without being told. I’d keep Test cricket at five days of 90 overs each, but empower match officials to clamp down even more than they do now on slow over-rates. If a captain can’t get his bowlers moving along at 15 overs an hour, he’s banned for a Test — no questions asked. At the moment, captains get a warning and a fine before they are banned, but for me it’s one strike and you’re out. Graves does make a good point about poor fifth-day crowds, and my solution to that is quite radical: make the fifth day free for spectators. I remember Yorkshire throwing their doors open for the fifth morning of the thrilling Headingley Test against South Africa in 1998. It only lasted half an hour or so, but 13,000 came through the doors. Some might say it worked a treat because Yorkshiremen don’t like putting their hands in their pockets, but I couldn’t possibly comment. It’s got to be worth a try.