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The Sheffield Shield has been doing it for over a century and County cricket has gone even shorter in the past. So should Test match cricket be reduced to four days?
News of the ICC’s plans to reevaluate the length of Test cricket has opened up every kind of cricketing can of worms.
Traditionalists hate it. Administrators love it.
County cricket matches were actually only three days in length for 98 years before moving up to the four-day format, which has been in used in Australian domestic cricket since the 19th century.
As the landscape of world cricket continues to change, forever becoming shorter and more explosive, Test match cricket is often forgotten about, being left behind in the modern smash and bash of the T20 era.
While you do get the five-day stonewalling draws – looking at you subcontinent – the rise in three or four-day demolition jobs is also growing.
Triple figure strike rates, 135-year old river oak stumps as cricket bats, and the attacking T20 mindset that continues to seep into the longest format of the game.
The time and patience of the modern audience for a drawn out 194 over third innings is passing by.
However, and it’s an important however, the tradition of the oldest format in the game is a long and illustrious one, something that a lot of old hats and cricket tragics are very quick to point out.
What about those thrilling last-day antics? Two wickets to win, 30 runs to defend and time running out in the final session?
What about the good old days when Tests were timeless, even going as far as ten days before teams had to give up so they didn’t miss their boat home.
Back in the early days though, teams would comfortably get through 120+ overs in a day, with less emphasis on bowler’s run ups and technique, as well and next to no drinks breaks.
Whereas now, the expected standard is 90 overs in a day, but even then it usually only hits mid 80s with a chance to make up overs at the end of the day.
Maybe four-day tests would have been fine when the amount of overall overs bowled was nearly half on top of what it already is.
It’s a matter of, how can you build such a thrilling contest in anything less than five days? Versus, five days just drags the contest out, you can get the same result in four with better, more fast paced action.
With the advent of day-night Test cricket, the chance for less days with longer sessions is a very real reality, and one that is becoming increasingly discussed between former cricketers all the way to your local yobo at the pub.
A huge factor in the overall discussion is money. Stadiums, TV, radio, tourism, advertising and even the players themselves all benefit from more cricket being played.
Television rights are worth millions and millions of dollars, so if the station is getting less cricket each test, then they’re losing advertising revenue, which in turn hurts the company looking to advertise.
Same with tourism, it’s one less day travellers can spend money in the host nation, it’s one day the players and the stadium lose from their revenue.
One less day may not seem like a lot, but with dwindling Test match crowds across the globe and the state of the format in limbo, could just one day be all in needs to survive?
What do you think Roarers – five days or four? Change, or remain?
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