The Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) has acknowledged that four-day format for the next Championship cycle has been on the table for discussion, but strongly threw their weight behind present-day Tests, which “should continue to be played over five days,” they said in a statement on Tuesday (January 14).
“MCC has noted the recent discussion regarding the future of test cricket and the ICC’s desire to debate the introduction of four-day test cricket to replace the current five-day format in the World Test Championship from 2023,” the statement read.
“The MCC Cricket committee and MCC World Cricket committee have recently discussed the issue and although they can see some benefits that four-day Test cricket could bring, both committees believe that Test cricket should continue to be played over five days,” it further added.
MCC’s statement comes after a number of international cricketers including Virat Kohli and Vernon Philander made their reservations public against the mandate of four-day Tests for the next Championship cycle. “I don’t endorse that at all,” Kohli had said in Guwahati on Saturday (January 4). “D/N Test is the most that should be changed about Test cricket according to me. I am purely only talking about getting the numbers in and the entertainment. The intent otherwise won’t be right. Then you’ll speak of three-day Tests, where do you end? Then you will speak of Test cricket disappearing .. D/N Test is another step on commercializing Test cricket and creating excitement around it but it can’t be tinkered with too much.”
The MCC Cricket Committee, an independent body which reports to the MCC committee, is due to meet next in March in Sri Lanka. Though the committee in itself can’t frame laws, it can credibly debate issues and make recommendations about the health and state of the game.
