4 day test matches?

[Bordeaux]

Seen some brilliant 5th days... Would we get more draws with 4 days or would climax occur earlier.

[bfcjg]

30 seconds for me.

[Tricky Trevor]

Strange decision. Cut some matches instead of cutting a day would be my way forward.
I can understand the players feeling the strain.

[LeadBelly]

They've just crammed in the "hundreds" competition, so making the players' diaries more crowded; now say players are too busy and we need shorter test matches!
If this goes through, there'll be some other T20/100 ball/1-day competition variant to eat up the "saved" days. The players will be just as busy but the balance between 1-day and longer term cricket will shift even more towards shorter format.

It's not what I want but, outside of UK, it seems to be what the crowds will turn up for. (No problems in the UK selling out 20k+ tickets (@best part of £100 each) for test match days+ huge "beer & pie" receipts - but they have much lower crowds/£receipts elsewhere).

This move would be a shame as far as I'm concerned but probably inevitable given the ££££ players can make from 1-day cricket (IPL especially).

[TheFamilyCat]

Heard a bit on the news about this. Is the plan to stick with 90 overs per day or increase this? They'd have to do something about slow over rates if they wanted to increase it.

I know it wouldn't really affect the test team but I'd split the CC into three divisions of six teams. Ten games per team = 40 days of cricket (instead of the 64 they currently play). Gives time for this Hundred nonsense and means championships aren't won by rain affected games at the end of September.

[IanMcL]

The end of big match cricket, in favour of wham, bam, thank you mam.

[Buxtonclaret]

England haven't got 4 days of concentration in them anymore.

[thatdberight]

Modern cricketers can barely manage three. The game's gone on the altar of the slack- jawed 20/20 fans... now 16.66recurring/16.66recurring.

And when that format's too long for them, just a super over with an hour's dancing girls? Penguins on ice bowling at 'It's a Knockout' giant costumes batsmen? Extra runs for eating a sausage before the ball reaches the boundary? Monkey tennis?

[tiger76]

Sadly it's only a matter of time before test cricket dies a death,outwith the Ashes the public interest just isn't there anymore.

The whole idea of a 5 day match is both teams will be tested in different batting and bowling conditions,that's the reason test cricket is tough because every day can bring a fresh challenge,depending on the state of the game,weather can also play a part,and dramatically alter the dynamic of a match.

For instance in England especially you can be batting on day 1 in benign sunny weather,and then you can wake up the following morning to overcast humid weather which clearly favours the bowling side.

The writing's been on the wall for a number of years for the longer form of the game,as white ball cricket attendances/tv audiences grow and grow,the opposite is occuring at test match venues,i wouldn''t be if the CC in it's current format was defunct in the next 10 years,that's just down to footfall i'm afraid,and the counties need the money from the one-day format to survive,that's the reality.