Four-day Tests likely to welcome Afghanistan and Ireland

Afghanistan and Ireland have grown leaps and bounds in the last one decade, especially in international cricket. Their performances in limited-overs cricket captured the imaginations of the supporters and the big daddies of cricket, so much so that last year they were granted Test status. Ireland were the first to don the white jersey in May against Pakistan at Malahide.

In June, Afghanistan, captained by Asghar Stanikzai (now Afghan), locked horns with India at M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore. Recently, it has been learned that the International Cricket Council (ICC) is pondering over organising four-day Tests for the two emerging teams of world cricket. Geoff Allardice, the ICC general manager, updated about the same.

The game has evolved

“At the moment, (it’s about) trying to get opportunities for Ireland, Afghanistan and Zimbabwe in Test cricket against teams that are in the Test championship, from a fixturing point of view that works out better over four days than five,” Allardice was quoted as saying in Sport 360.

In the earlier days of cricket, the red-ball fixtures used to take place for three or four days. However, four-day Tests came to a halt in 1973. In October 2017, the ICC approved a four-day Test between South Africa and Zimbabwe, which ended in a couple of days. Meanwhile, Allardice reckons reducing the number of days from five to four won’t devalue the game by any means as it’s not a new concept.

“In terms of devaluing the game, regular five-day Tests is a relatively recent thing. If you go to the 1970s, New Zealand were playing mostly four-day Test matches. You talk of devaluing Test cricket, there is a lot of history that wasn’t based around the five-day game.

The percentage was reasonable, we had rest days in the past. The game has evolved. We should not see in a narrow snapshot of time,” he added.

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