England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) CEO Tom Harrison confirmed that there are no plans to adopt the four-day version of Test cricket, at least in the next few years, especially as the trimmed format remains a contentious part of debates.
The ICC is set to discuss next month the proposal to introduce the concept in the World Test Championship during the 2023-31 FTP cycle.
The proposal, however, has faced severe criticism from active and former cricketers around the world, with them not wanting the traditional red-ball game to be tweaked with, also fearing that this is only about adding more lucrative bilateral limited-overs cricket to the calendar.
"There are no plans over the next few years to introduce four-day Tests in England...certainly not in the World Test Championship...the Ashes," Harrison said in an interview with The Cricketer magazine, but he added: "I'm cautiously supportive of four-day Tests, in certain geographies, in certain times of the year, against certain opposition."
"In a cluttered calendar, when we're facing enormous pressure on schedules, four-day Test cricket does answer some questions, some of the time."
England did play Ireland in a four-day Test at Lord's last summer before the Ashes and ECB wouldn't mind reducing a few of its similarly less financially rewarding fixtures in the calendar by a day, so as to make the affair a slightly cost-efficient one, which is what this whole proposal is partially about, especially for non-Big 3 countries outside India, England and Australia.
"It's not the answer to all of our problems and our own problems," Harrison said in response to whether the ICC can impose the four-day version on all its members. "There's no support for that -- India, Australia and us -- and that's quite a powerful lobby."
(Inputs from AFP)
