CHENNAI: The voices are getting louder against the proposed four-day Tests. Ever since the plan was made public last week, there have been voices of dissent from various quarters including those of Mike Atherton, Nathan Lyon, Nasser Hussain and Glenn McGrath. On Saturday, India captain Virat Kohli, one of the flag-bearers of Test cricket, apart from shooting down the idea, even questioned the intent behind it.
Even though South Africa and Zimbabwe played a four-day Test in 2017, the International Cricket Council did not include it in the Test Championship, which commenced in 2019. However, with the future tours programme for 2023-31 being drawn, the ICC has said it is exploring the possibility of four-day Tests with Cricket Australia and England Cricket Board already being excited about the concept.
Although the BCCI hasn’t made its stand official with president Sourav Ganguly revealing that they need time, Kohli’s disapproval gains bigger weightage in the perspective. “Four-day Tests? Look, I’m not a fan of it,” said Kohli. “According to me, it should not be altered. As I said, day-night is another step towards commercialising Test cricket and creating excitement around it, but it can’t be tinkered with too much. I think the intent will not be right then because then you will speak of three-day Tests, where do you end? Then you speak of Test cricket disappearing. I don’t endorse that at all,” he said.
Although the BCCI’s stance might not be different to that of Kohli’s, ECB and CA are keen on pushing the format as it will open up more days in the calendar which they want to use it to accommodate T20s to keep cricket relevant among their fans. The BCCI doesn’t have any such compulsion at the moment, given how well the team is playing.
Even the Federation of International Cricketers Association (FICA) which includes players from all the major cricketing nations except India has called on ICC to hear the players before arriving at a decision. “This (four-day Tests) is something that needs to be properly assessed before any decisions are made. The players need to be fully consulted in this assessment process,” FICA’s executive chairman Tony Irish told this newspaper.
As of now, FICA is not for or against four-day Tests as it is yet to get feedback from players, which might happen in the coming months. While players might like the proposal as it will give them space to plie their trade in T20 leagues, FICA’s decision will also depend on how boards will use up the freed days. “There may be benefits in the global cricket schedule to moving to 4-day Tests but our concern would be that the Board would simply plug in more cricket into the time freed up in an unstructured way. What we don’t want to see is more unstructured cricket,” Irish said.
FICA has been pushing for more context for the game as its reviews have shown players not being interested in taking part in meaningless bilateral series. When Test Championship was being talked about, they were among the ones who supported it. But like many, even FICA isn’t happy with the existing point system and the disparity in matches played by teams.
“In the global schedule post 2023 the game desperately needs proper structure and context. We don’t think that WTC adds sufficient context to Tests because it is simply a competition and points structure wrapped around existing unstructured scheduling. How does one have a clear points system when countries don’t play the same number of matches against each other and some countries don’t even play each other?” Irish added.
It should not be altered. The day-night is another step towards commercialising Test cricket and creating excitement around it, but it can’t be tinkered with too much.Virat Kohli, India skipper