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Four-Day Tests To Become Reality As ICC Eyes Broader Inclusion For WTC: Report

Aakash Saini

South African players with the WTC 2025 mace [Source: AP Photo]South African players with the WTC 2025 mace [Source: AP Photo]

The International Cricket Council (ICC) is reportedly considering to sanction four-day Tests in the World Test Championship (WTC). Since the schedule for the 2025-27 WTC cycle has been already revealed, the groundbreaking move might well be implemented for the 2027-29 championship.

South Africa recently won the previous championship by defeating Australia in a blockbuster finale at Lord’s earlier this week. It is worth noting that the 2025-27 WTC cycle will launch from Tuesday, June 17 onwards with a match between Bangladesh and hosts Sri Lanka at the Galle International Cricket Stadium.

ICC Pushing For Four-Day Tests For Smaller Nations

The ICC is reportedly aiming to sanction four-day Test matches for the next WTC cycle, i.e., 2027-29, in a bid to help smaller nations play more Tests and longer series, as reported by The Guardian. Since only five-day Tests are permitted for the forthcoming 2025-27 cycle, as many as 19 series of the scheduled 27 feature only two matches.

Five of those series are slated to be a three-match affair, while five-match series are only permitted for the Tendulkar-Anderson 2025 Trophy in England, the 2025-26 Ashes in Australia and the 2027 Border-Gavaskar Trophy series in India.

With four-day Tests, cricket boards of nations like Pakistan, Bangladesh, West Indies, Sri Lanka among others can find time to accommodate three-match series to their international calendar, thus adding more competitiveness and flair to the age-old format.

The report further indicates that ICC President Jay Shah is also on board with the truncated Tests, and is aiming to implement the same in time for the 2027-29 WTC in the ICC FTP.

Notably, in four-day Tests, the number of playing hours in a day will also be extended to accommodate a minimum of 98 overs instead of the traditional 90 overs.