KEY POINT
- The move aims to ease financial and scheduling pressures while allowing emerging teams to play more red-ball cricket
- Five-day series like the Ashes and Border-Gavaskar Trophy will remain unchanged for top-tier teams
- Four-day Tests, first approved in 2017, offer a tighter schedule and extended daily play
ISLAMABAD: In a step toward reshaping the traditional game, the International Cricket Council (ICC) has signalled its willingness to embrace four-day Test matches for future World Test Championship (WTC) cycles – a shift that could redefine the rhythm of red-ball cricket.
The move is intended to give smaller cricketing nations more opportunities to participate in longer-format series without the financial and scheduling burdens of five-day contests.
The change is under serious consideration for the 2027–29 WTC cycle, even as the current format remains unchanged for the 2025–27 season.
The timing of this discussion is particularly striking, coming just days after South Africa broke a decades-long dry spell by clinching a five-wicket victory over Australia at Lord’s, their first major ICC trophy since 1998.
The triumph adds fresh weight to the evolution of the game’s global landscape.
Despite the ICC’s openness to shorter Tests, the traditional heavyweights — England, India, and Australia — are expected to retain their marquee five-match, five-day series for the Ashes, the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, and the newly christened Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy.
It’s worth noting that the idea of four-day Tests isn’t entirely novel. The ICC approved them back in 2017 for bilateral series, with England having played such matches against Ireland and Zimbabwe.
The condensed format allows for a more compact schedule — fitting a three-match series into under three weeks — while increasing daily overs from 90 to 98.
Ultimately, this proposal is about balance: preserving the soul of Test cricket while making it more accessible and sustainable for emerging nations who’ve long been spectators rather than regular participants in the format’s top tier.
