MCC supports the retention of traditional format of Test matches

Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) has thrown its support behind the traditional five-day Test matches in the future as well. The proposal of Cricket South Africa (CSA) to host a four-day Test match at home in December against Zimbabwe has divided the cricketing fraternity. While few boards believe that the change in format would bring in more spectators, some of them are against the idea as they think tinkering with the longest format of the game would harm the identity of cricket. Recently, Faf Du Plessis and Dean Elgar strongly opposed four-day Test concept and were happy to play the format in its pure form.

Test cricket will be relaunched in 2020 with a World Championship and the first four-day Test will take place in December this year when South Africa play Zimbabwe. Although the approval of International Cricket Council (ICC) is yet to come which is expected later this month in its next meeting. It is also being reported the England and Australia boards are in full support of scrapping the five-day Test matches.

Home of cricket deserves more games

Guy Lavender, the MCC’s new chief executive, has confirmed MCC will support the retention of five-day Tests. Lord’s will be bidding to host two Test matches per year when the ECB invites ground to tender in November for their next allocation of major matches. He believed that the advent of T20 leagues around the world has made it tough for the tours programme to adjust but backed the purest form of the game to continue.

“The MCC’s view is that five-day Tests from a cricketing perspective make sense. There is another perspective around 4 day Tests from a customer experience perspective and looking at the difficulties of fitting in the tours programme and a congested international fixture list with emergence of domestic Twenty20 tournaments. The net impact is if you reduce from five to four the jigsaw becomes much easier to fit together. It is a debate that is going to run but from our perspective five days Tests is what we would like to see continue,” he said according to The Telegraph.

He also insisted that the home of cricket deserves to retain its special status. “Our objectives are straightforward. We are very convinced we can create a compelling case for having two Test matches, an ODI, and new T20 teams for both men and women here at Lord’s. That is not because we are the home of cricket but it is because we can deliver a number of things better than any other ground in the country,” the MCC chief executive continued.

“We have the ability to attract audiences from any nation, for any part of the season. The track record at Lord’s is second to none. We have delivered the best customer experience for people coming to matches consistently for the past four years. It is where visiting teams want to play and we generate significant revenues that come back into the game. Regardless of the broadcast deal, the ability to finance the game is vital,” Lavender concluded.