Four day test matches under consideration by the ECB – surely an idea that should left on the drawing board ?
http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci-icc/content/story/838489.html
Test match cricket
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I agree with you, but I suspect that we’ll see it happen sooner or later.
They are usually 4 day test matches when England plays Australia anyway !
You swine! But have an up anyway.
We’ll probably be having 3 dayers this Summer anyway, Junior is generous in suggesting they might last as long as 4 days. Surely ECB has more important things to be getting on with ?
I’m with Bargepole on this – Test Match cricket should only last less than five days if there is already a result. The first Test I went to see was day one of England v India at Edgbaston in 1979 (Boycott got a ton; Gooch about 85; and the great David Gower got the first bit of his 200*). If memory serves there were a minimum 115 overs to be bowled. These days it’s a minimum of 90. That’s 25 fewer overs per day – 100 in the first four days (terms and conditions apply on Day 5). If you reduce the length to four days, you potentially lose a whole innings effectively.
Part of the joy of Test cricket is the way it unfolds over the course of those five days. If it were up to me they’d always start on a Thursday but I can accept changing the days around as long as there remain five of them.
And the way over-rates are going, we could be looking at two-day ODIs soon – no doubt the reason they’re talking about reducing those down to 40 overs!