While Cricket Australia CEO Kevin Roberts seems to have given thumbs up to the ICC's proposal to mandate four-day Test from 2023, skipper Tim Paine isn't nodding in approval yet, still pinning his hopes on the five-day version lasting the distance despite major obstacles. 

Nations find organising and hosting Test cricket a burden to their financial health and believe, if a day is taken out, it'll become a slightly more cost-efficient exercise, taking place between Thursdays to Sundays with increased number of overs each day and subsequently becoming more attractive to the broadcasters and the sponsors. 

Read Also: Too early to comment on proposal to mandate four-day Test, says Ganguly 

"We might not have got a result in the Ashes had we of done that," the Herald Sun quoted Paine as saying. "I think that’s the point of difference with Test cricket."

"It’s five days, it’s harder mentally, it’s harder physically and it Tests players more than the four day first class fixtures do. I think that’s what it’s designed to do. I hope it stays that way."

During the Boxing Day Test against New Zealand, Roberts had said that Australia will definitely give the idea a serious thought while finalising a schedule for the next eight-year cycle. 

"It is something that we have got to seriously consider," ESPNcricinfo had quoted Roberts as saying. "It is something that can't be driven by emotion, but it needs to be driven by fact. We need to look at what's the average length of Test matches over the past five-ten years in terms of time and overs."

"We need to look at it very carefully and perhaps it is more likely than not in the mid-term future. What we absolutely will do is that over the next 12 to 18 months, is make sure the cricket calendar is nailed down for the years 2023 to 2031. What we are committed to doing is working with all the ICC members - nobody is saying it is easy but what we are doing is looking at it holistically and we are committed to doing that."