Players from South Africa oppose four-day match against Zimbabwe

Skipper Faf du Plessis and opener Dean Elgar have voiced their concern regarding the adoption of four-day Test matches and have opposed their board, Cricket South Africa (CSA), for going ahead with their proposal without the consent from its players.

Earlier, it was scheduled that India would be featuring in the Boxing-Day Test match in South Africa. But due to the Sri Lankan series in December, Indians decided to arrive later in January 2018. To fill in the void, CSA had announced plans for the first-over four day Test pending approval of the ICC against Zimbabwe without consultation from its players.

Interfering with Test Cricket- wrong way to go: Elgar

“I’m a five-day specialist and Test cricket must stay that way, they mustn’t tinker with something that’s not broken. The other formats have been experimented with and now it looks like Test cricket will be the scapegoat. It should not be allowed to suffer,” quoted Dean Elgar according to Sports 360.com.

“That’s the duration of the game and we should not start disrespecting it, and Test cricket should also only be played with the red ball. I believe Test cricket is the wrong format to interfere with, they should keep it as it is because it’s not broken,” further added the batsman who missed out on his maiden double century at Potchefstroom against Bangladesh.

“Having four-day Tests would be tricky, I’m a fan of five-day Tests. The great Tests are the ones that finish in the last hour of the fifth day, that’s what makes the format so special. If there’s the fifth day, you have to really graft, the bowlers have a lot more work and the batsmen have to graft for longer,” claimed the captain of the South African team, Faf du Plessis.

South Africa have currently locked horns with the Bangladeshi Tigers for a 2-Test Match, 3-ODI and 2- T20I series.