Nathan Lyon reckons the latest proposal to mandate four-day Test cricket at the behest of ICC is as "ridiculous" as it can get. The Aussie off-spinner believes firmly in the primacy of the five-day version and wouldn't like it to be tinkered with. 

The ICC has been pushed by various full-members boards to consider going down this route so as to make hosting Test cricket from the next FTP cycle onwards less of a burden on their finance. 

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"I'm totally against it and I hope ICC aren't even considering it," PTI quoted Lyon as saying. "You look at all the big games around the world and some of the best Test matches I've been part of, they go down to the last day."

Head coach Justin Langer also, like Lyon, is a traditionalist. "You look at (Australia) against India at Adelaide in 2014, that went down to the last half-an-hour on day five," he said. "Then you look at Cape Town in 2014 as well, you look at that Test match where Ryan Harris bowled Morne Morkel with two overs to go, so that's gone down to the last 10 minutes on a day five."

"I'm not a fan of four-day Test matches. I believe you'll get so many more draws and day five is crucial." 

Although, the instances Langer pointed out to have been quite rare; more than 50% of the Tests in recent times have ended inside four days. 

If the proposal goes through, Tests are expected to be played from Thursdays to Sundays with increased number of overs each day. 

"It's a challenge," Lyon said on five-day Tests. "You challenge yourself in different ways physically and mentally."

"It's not just a walk in the park. Five-day Test matches, they are hard work especially if the conditions aren't in your favour. You want to challenge yourself. I'm all against four-day Test matches."

(Inputs from PTI)