ICC boss hints at four-day Tests
By AAP, 1 Jul 2009
- Tagged:
- cricketICC, David Morgan, four day test matches, International Cricket, International Cricket Council, Test cricket
International Cricket Council president David Morgan has suggested that Test matches could be reduced from five to four days as part of a major overhaul of the game’s traditional format.
The suggestion comes because of the need for the sport to remain relevant in an increasingly time-poor world and as a reaction to the increasing popularity to the Twenty20 format.
“Another thought that many people have, that we are examining is whether Test match cricket can be played over four days rather than five,” Morgan told the India Today magazine.
“I would be very surprised if within a year you haven’t seen some significant changes in Test match cricket.”
Morgan believed it wouldn’t be too difficult for players to make a mental shift to playing from five days to four.
He said that Test cricket needed to be tweaked and that special cricket balls must be made to facilitate night Tests in white clothing.
“We need better over-rates, better pitches that give a good balance between bat and ball and we need to consider day-night Test cricket,” Morgan said.
“There is great support for it, the issue is the colour of the ball and the quality of the ball.
“It would be a pity if Test match cricket – day-night – had to be played with a white ball and therefore coloured clothing.
“We are looking very closely at ball manufacturing design that replicates a red ball, maybe an orange ball, a ball that could still allow us to play in white clothing and still at night.”
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July 2nd 2009 @ 5:21pm
JohnB said | July 2nd 2009 @ 5:21pm | Report comment
NashRambler – I think tests in Australia were all timeless pre WW2. Ashes tests in England were over 3 days until 1921 or 1926, then 4 days until WW2 (England may have played other countries over 3 days only after bringing in 4 day tests for Australia). I think series deciding games in England may have been timeless – certainly the one in 1938 when England got 900 was. Apart from some tests in WI (6 days) and some series deciding tests (also 6 days) I think all tests involving Aust post WW2 have been 5 days – but happy to be corrected on that. Hours of play have varied, I think tending to increase slightly, and over rates have tended down.
July 3rd 2009 @ 7:29am
NashRambler said | July 3rd 2009 @ 7:29am | Report comment
JohnB,
I believe I’ve heard that in the old days over rates were higher in Australia even when they were bowling eight-ball overs. I don’t know if there are stats to prove that or not. I kind of like the idea of going back to playing timeless tests or 6-day tests for the series deciding matches whether they stay with 5-day tests or go with 4-day tests. I think having the fans know one team or the other will definitly win a series instead of having the possibility of a drawn series would bring some excitment back to test series.
July 3rd 2009 @ 2:42pm
JohnB said | July 3rd 2009 @ 2:42pm | Report comment
Nash – I think over rates in England when they were 3 or 4 day tests were probably the best part of 120 per day (as I say, not sure of the hours of play) – certainly early in the 20th century. They might have declined towards WW2. I’m sure they were correspondingly high (at least on a per hour basis) in countries using 8 ball overs at the time (Aust and I think SA).
Timeless tests – I can see where you’re coming from, but for mine the time element is one of the interesting parts of cricket. You can’t just bat and bat and bat – you have to score quickly enough to give yourself time to get the other mob out. I also suspect that the grinding sort of cricket encouraged by timelessness wouldn’t be to many people’s taste.
July 3rd 2009 @ 3:38pm
Vikas said | July 3rd 2009 @ 3:38pm | Report comment
Have you heard a survey in Australia proved that childrens are becoming more discplinal watching Cricket?.This survey is saying that cricekt game brings discipline.