5 reasons why four-day Test cricket will not work

#1 Excitement produced by the fifth day

The crowd turnout even for the final day was superb at the Adelaide Oval for the second Test

All five days of a Test match are equally important. And there have been cases where the games have been affected by bad weather (rain/bad light). Hence, the fifth day becomes more important in the context of the game as it allows the game to continue at its pace.

In the case of a four-day game, if one of the days is washed out, then we are only left with 3 days (294 overs) and it becomes difficult to obtain a result (at least have 3 innings) in such a short span.

You might be wondering we could start early, but to get in 98 overs the game will already begin at least half an hour early. Hence, in this scenario four-day Tests become difficult.

Even if we consider rain doesn’t have an impact on the game, the excitement of the fifth day is different. For example, take the recently concluded second Ashes Test. The game was right in the balance (with England needing 178 runs with 6 wickets in hand) and it got everyone excited.

Even the first Test in Kolkata (India vs Sri Lanka), the game went down to the wire. Even though large parts of the first two days were lost to rain, the Test match endured a thrilling finish (with Sri Lanka just about managing to hold on to a draw).

Also, if there are only four days in a Test, the possibility of a draw increases largely. Players might start to think of playing for the draw and not go for the kill. Hence, day five of a Test match is one of the most important, intriguing and exciting parts.