Cricket Australia 'seriously considering' four-day Test matches, reveals Kevin Roberts

12/28/2019

CA chief Kevin Roberts shared that the governing body will be considering four-day matches and opined that the decision should be looked at holistically. Roberts conceded that CA will be looking to take all the major nations and the ICC into a consensus in order to maintain a healthy balance.

As Test cricket continues to plunge into the darkness of the shorter formats’ shadow, Cricket Australia (CA) has come up with yet another solution, after D/N Test matches, to preserve the longest format of the game. CA chief executive Kevin Roberts shared that the governing body will be “seriously considering” four-day Test matches. Roberts urged to keep the emotions for the format aside and take facts into consideration while deciding upon the fate of the format.

"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," Roberts told Australian radio station SEN on Saturday.

"We're really looking forward to digging into the facts of that. (It's) something we've got to look at very, very carefully and perhaps it's more likely than not in the mid-term future," he added.

In the 140-year history of the game, it was only in 2017 that the format went under 5 days, when International Cricket Council (ICC) sanctioned the format, making South Africa the first nation to host it, against Zimbabwe at Port Elizabeth. England is the only other major cricketing nation to embrace the format having played a four-day match against Ireland.

Roberts assured that the governing body will taking ICC and other major cricketing nations into consensus before deciding upon the fate of the format so as to maintain a healthy balance. T20 and other shorter formats have been giving tough competition to Test when it comes to crowd and interest since the last 15 years.

"What we absolutely are committed to doing is working with the ICC and all of the ICC members to get a healthy balance between all those dimensions," he said.

"No-one is saying it's easy, what we are saying is it's really important to look at it holistically."