Cricket Australia Seriously Considering Four-Day Tests - Kevin Roberts

One of the richest cricket boards in the world cricket, Cricket Australia is looking to trim the Test matches to 4-day games. The chief of Cricket Australia Kevin Roberts confirmed the media that the board is seriously considering the plan to cut 5-day Test match to 4-day Test. The concerned team of Cricket Australia is already collecting the data of the previous games.

Cricket Australia chief executive Kevin Roberts said the governing body is collecting the numbers on match durations and would look to decide the “medium-term”. The ICC approved a trial of shortened Tests with 98 overs per day in 2017, with two having been played to this point.

We are going to dig into the facts – Kevin Roberts

Under the ICC’s trial, four-day matches can only be played in games that don’t count as World Test Championship fixtures. It means that they are likely to set up for clashes with minnows. With Afghanistan set to tour Australia in 2020, the Cricket Australia might try out the 4-day game.

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“I think it is something we’ve got to seriously consider. It is something that can’t be driven by emotion, it has got to be driven by fact,” Kevin Roberts told SEN Test Cricket. We’re really looking forward to digging into the facts of that. What’s the average length of Test matches over the last five to 10 years, both in terms of time and overs? Over rates are a consideration in the modern game aren’t they?

“In the interest of fans and the health of the game, we need to make sure that over rates don’t continue to slow. There’s a whole lot of considerations in that. Something we’ve got to look at very, very carefully and perhaps it’s more likely than not in the mid-term future. For me to say that, would be based on intuition than fact. I’d be arguing against myself. We are going to be digging into the facts and see what they tell us about the recent length of Test matches and take it from there.”

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England played a four-day Test against Ireland earlier this year, while South Africa also hosted Zimbabwe in one in 2017. Well, it would be interesting to see how things would turn out.