England cricket chief 'not a champion' of four-day Tests
ECB chief executive Tom Harrison says there are no plans to introduce four-day Tests in England.
LONDON (AFP) - ECB chief executive Tom Harrison says there are no plans to introduce four-day Test matches in England as debate swirls over the future of the longest form of the game.
The International Cricket Council is next month set to discuss a proposal to reduce matches in the World Test Championship by a day from 2023.
The ICC allowed four-day Tests in 2017 and they have been tried in one-off games between South Africa and Zimbabwe and England against Ireland.
But they are not allowed in the Test world championship, which is led by Virat Kohli s India, where matches take place over the traditional five days.
The England and Wales Cricket Board said in December that it was "cautiously" supportive of the move towards shorter Tests as a way of reducing players workloads.
But in an interview with The Cricketer magazine, Harrison said he had been incorrectly "positioned as the champion of four-day Tests".
"There are no plans over the next few years to introduce four-day Tests in England...certainly not in the World Test Championship...the Ashes," he said.
But he added: "I m cautiously supportive of four-day Tests, in certain geographies, in certain times of the year, against certain opposition.
"In a cluttered calendar, when we re facing enormous pressure on schedules, four-day Test cricket does answer some questions, some of the time.
"It s not the answer to all of our problems and our own problems."
Asked if the ICC could impose four-day Tests on its members, Harrison was firm in his response.
"There s no support for that -- India, Australia and us -- and that s quite a powerful lobby," he said.
The influential Marylebone Cricket Club last month threw its weight behind five-day Tests.
