The International Cricket Council (ICC) is set to approve four-day Tests for smaller teams in the 2025-27 World Test Championship (WTC) Cycle. However, India, Australia, and England will continue playing five-day Test matches. The move to implement four-day Tests for smaller nations is to garner interest for the red-ball format and also help these nations play more Test matches and longer series.
According to a report, several discussions were on the way to help bridge the gap between 'The top three Test playing nations and other smaller countries. After a detailed overview, the ICC Chairman Jay Shah is ready to sanction four-day Tests for smaller teams.
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"During discussions last week at the WTC final at Lord’s, the ICC chair, Jay Shah, is understood to have expressed his support for four-day Tests, intending to sanction them in time for the 2027-29 WTC cycle," a report in "The Guardian' newspaper said.
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"England, Australia, and India would still be permitted to schedule a five-Test series of five-day matches for the Ashes, the Border-Gavaskar Trophy and the newly named Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy, the first iteration of which begins with the first Test between England and India at Headingley on Friday." The ICC first approved four-day Tests for bilateral contests in 2017. England hosted Zimbabwe over four days at Trent Bridge last month after four-day Tests against Ireland in 2019 and 2023.
ICC wants smaller Test-playing nations to evolve more
For the unversed, the smaller Test-playing nations are reluctant to host Test matches for five days due to the time taken out of the compressed schedule and the cost involved.
"Many smaller nations are reluctant to host Tests due to the time they take out of the schedule and the cost, but a move to four-day cricket would enable an entire three-Test series to be played in less than three weeks." "In four-day Tests, the playing hours are extended to mandate a minimum of 98 overs per day rather than 90 overs to mitigate the time lost," it said.
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"South Africa’s threadbare itinerary, despite being crowned world champions in the thrilling final against Australia at Lord’s last week has further highlighted the issue and focused minds on the need for change," it added.
The fourth edition of the WTC 2025-27 Cycle will continue under the existing format of five-day games. The first series in the new WTC cycle will be played between Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. Of the 27 Test series played in the two-year cycle, 17 will contested as just a two-match Test series, while there will be six series of three matches.
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The top three teams, India, Australia, and England, will only be playing five-Test series against each other.
