‘England has no plans to launch four-day Tests’

LONDON: 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 World Test 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”.