Andrew Strauss: "Four-day Tests should be an easy sell or we shouldn't be doing it"

The ex-England captain sits on the global governing body's cricket committee, who will discuss the possibility of shaving a day off matches when they meet in Dubai at the end of March

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Andrew Strauss believes the ICC should only seriously consider the introduction of mandatory four-day Tests when presented with a watertight proposition.

The ex-England captain sits on the global governing body's cricket committee, who will discuss the possibility of shaving a day off matches when they meet in Dubai at the end of March.

In the event of the committee recommending a switch to four days, the change would also have to pass votes at the ICC executive committee and board level prior to introduction, and it is not the first time that the proposal has been debated.

There has been a groundswell of opposition to the plans over recent weeks, with a plethora of the game's most iconic current and former players standing up for the existing format, including Virat Kohli, Sachin Tendulkar, Ben Stokes, Ricky Ponting and Mahela Jayawardene - the latter of whom sits with Strauss on the ICC panel.

And Strauss, while open-minded to the idea of four-day Tests, says there must not be "change for the sake of it".

"This isn’t something that is being proposed with an agenda behind it," he told The Guardian. "It should be an easy sell or we shouldn’t be doing it.

^{The ICC cricket committee will discuss four-day Tests in March}

"If you asked how many people want to reduce Test matches down from five days to four, the answer is probably not that many.

"My gut feeling is that we should be looking at the whole picture, how Test cricket can be looking as healthy as possible in future, then work back from that.

"We shouldn’t assume Test cricket is healthy just because it is popular in England. In lots of parts of the world boards are struggling financially and Test cricket is not paying the bills.

"So we have to look at ways to improve the product for all. That’s the spectacle, the cricket itself, the costs, the schedules, the pitches, the balls, the experience.

"We need a World Test Championship that is meaningful and compelling. The length of the game is only one part of that bigger discussion."

Four-day Tests were first introduced in 2017, with South Africa, Zimbabwe, England and Ireland having taken part in the abbreviated contests to date.

Several national governing bodies - the ECB, Cricket Australia and Cricket New Zealand - have already indicated their support.

Cricket South Africa emphasised in a statement this week that they support the proposal in principle, but did not touch on their thoughts regarding the introduction of four days as mandatory across the global game.

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