New ECB chairman proposes four-day Test matches

He made his fortune as the founder of the Costcutter supermarket chain and now Colin Graves, the chairman elect of the England Cricket Board, wants to slash Test Day cricket from five to four days.

The 67-year-old Graves, who officially begins his five-year tenure at the ECB on 15 May, believes that Test cricket is in danger of extinction such is the soaring popularity of Twenty 20 cricket and to a lesser extent the 50-over game.

Only the Ashes series guarantees good crowds these days in Test cricket and in an interview with the MCC website, Graves proposed a radical solution. "Personally, I think we should look at four-day Test cricket and play 105 overs a day starting at 10.30 in the morning, and finish when you finish as all the grounds now have lights," he said.

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In Graves's vision Test matches would start on a Thursday, with that day and Friday given over to the corporate spectator, while Saturday and Sunday would be family days. "From a cost point of view you'd lose that fifth day, which would save a lot of money from the ground's point of view and the broadcasters'," he said. "[But] in reality, there's not many people who turn up and watch it on the fifth day."

Graves knows his proposal is likely to encounter stiff opposition, particularly in England, where traditionalists jealously guard against any tinkering with the Test format. But the incoming ECB chairman had this stark message for them: "You can't continue to leave Test cricket as it is." Television audiences and attendance figures are, he says, "shrinking". He continues: "Somehow, somewhere, there is a way to improve Test cricket. It's the bastion, but we've got to modernise it. We've got to jazz it up."

The proposal is incorporated into an ECB strategy document examining changes to the English game in the face of dwindling crowds to all but the top international matches. Change to Test cricket's format would require the approval of the International Cricket Council, but cricket’s governing body is likely to look favourably on the idea given that Test cricket in other parts of the world is shedding spectators at an alarming rate.

Whatever the outcome of Graves's proposal, it's another indication that his arrival at the ECB will be a breath of fresh air after a period of stagnation on and off the pitch. Early last month Graves hit the headlines by suggesting Kevin Pietersen could return to the England team. Last week, in an interview with BBC Radio Leeds, the ECB chief warned that should England fail to beat the West Indies in their upcoming Test series "there will be some inquiries of why we haven't."