Cricket Australia (CA) chief executive Kevin Roberts on Tuesday (January 14) has revealed that the board will "seriously consider" playing four-day Tests in the next Australian summer while backing the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) idea of four-day Test cricket.

The traditional format of the game has been played over five days throughout the 140-year history of Test cricket, but the sport’s governing body has given green signal to the four-day matches in 2017 with South Africa playing Zimbabwe in the four-day Test at Port Elizabeth in December 2017.

Now, the ICC is planning to make the four-day Tests mandatory from the 2023 cycle with many opposing the idea while CA has extended support to the concept.

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Roberts told Australian radio station SEN, “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. 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 continued, “I think as we explore possibilities in the next cycle from 2023 to 2031, it’s very important we ask ourselves the right questions about cricket. We know having surveyed around 8,000 Australian fans a couple of years ago, the two main things they wanted were an expanded BBL and more innovation in Test cricket in the form of four-day Tests and day-night Tests.

It’s been great to have a couple of day-night Tests this year and we’ve got to look really seriously at the future of four-day Test cricket. And given the average length of Test matches are less than four days, then it’s something to consider really seriously in the next eight-year cycle from 2023.”

Meanwhile, Roberts said Australia will look for support on four-day matches from the other major countries, adding: “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. No one is saying it’s easy, what we are saying is it’s really important to look at it holistically.”

The four-day matches can’t be part of the World Test Championship fixtures, as they are likely set up for clashes with minnows and Australia’s first four-day Test could come against Afghanistan at the start of next summer.

Roberts signed off by saying, “Once this international season finishes that’s when we start the planning for the following season.”

(With AAP/ SEN Inputs)