Player resistance looms as as a serious difficulty for cricket administrators if the push for four-day Tests is to gather serious momentum, with the Australia off-spinner Nathan Lyon among those coming out strongly against proposals he described as “ridiculous”.
Australia host Afghanistan in a one-off Test next season and there is a possibility that encounter will be a four-day match. The International Cricket Council agreed to let boards schedule four-day Tests in 2017 on a trial basis. The governing body is expected to discuss the matter further in 2020, including the prospect of mandatory four-day Tests, as part of a broader review of a schedule squeeze.
Lyon, the most successful Australian off-spinner with 380 wickets in the longest format, joined his Test captain, Tim Paine, and teammate Travis Head in criticising the idea. “Ridiculous … I’m not a fan of four-day test matches,” Lyon told The Unplayable Podcast ahead of Friday’s third and final test against New Zealand in Sydney. “I believe you’ll get so many more draws and day five is crucial.
“One, there’s the weather element. But the wickets these days are probably a lot flatter than they have been in the past, so it allows teams to bat longer and to put pressure on sides … you need time for the pitch to deteriorate and bring spinners in more on day five as well. I’m totally against it and I hope ICC aren’t even considering it.”
The Cricket Australia chief executive, Kevin Roberts, suggested last week that four-day Tests were an innovation worth considering, adding that “perhaps it is more likely than not in the mid-term future”.
Mark Taylor and Michael Vaughan are among the notable figures to suggest the mooted shift, intended to free up space on the international calendar while bringing greater certainty to boards and broadcasters, has merit. However, Paine has declared he would prefer Tests remain a five-day contest. the Australia vice-captain, Head, and the New Zealand paceman Neil Wagner have also made clear their four-day scepticism.
“Five days are the ultimate Tests,” Head said. “We have gone through a rare period where we have been able to win Tests in four days. But it’s quite rare. We may not have seen the results we saw in England [during the 2019 Ashes] without the extra day. It plays a lot with the wicket and brings spin into play, so I would like to see it stay as five days.”
Wagner, currently second on the International Cricket Council’s Test bowler rankings, said he was a firm believer in five-day Tests.
“There’s always weather and other stuff around, you can lose a day,” Wagner said. “The first two Tests [in the current trans-Tasman series] have finished in four days. But if you look at the Test matches that have gone five days and into a last session, they’re some of the most exciting Tests in history – and there’s been quite a few in the last year or so.”
The South Africa captain, Faf du Plessis, whose side hosted Zimbabwe in a four-day Test in 2017, has previously advocated for Tests to remain five days. There was initially much resistance from players regarding day-night Tests, the most recent major change to the longest format, but the pink ball has now been embraced by most boards.
