Former England captain Mike Gatting on Tuesday joined cricketers opposing the idea of four-day Tests, insisting that chances of results are more in five days.
Many notable names including Sachin Tendulkar, India skipper Virat Kohli, Sri Lankan legend Mahela Jayawardane have spoken in favour of five-day Tests.
“Test cricket is unique, we keep saying it day in and day out. Sadly, it’s the administrators who don’t play, who understand that they have a problem in scheduling I suspect. Therefore, they don’t understand what a unique game Test cricket is,” said Gatting, who played 79 Tests.
The former Middlesex batsman added, “So, it’s good to have a chat, let’s talk about it so that people can understand both sides of the story.”
Gatting continued, “If there’s less Test cricket fine, but I will be very, very opposed to getting rid of Test cricket, it has to be five days. If you have bad weather in England or South Africa anyway, it’s a draw if you lose a day, so with five days you got a chance of having a result. It’s worth talking, but five-day Test cricket is unique in many ways.”
He also welcomed Kohli’s recent statement that India was ready to play Day/Night Tests anywhere.
“The fact that Virat Kohli has said that Day/Night Test cricket is something that he wants to play is fantastic and was great to see what happened in Kolkata (where India played their first Day/Night Test). Sadly, Bangladesh didn’t play their best or India were just too good, one of the two. But the crowds were good for Day/Night Test. Maybe that’s the way,” he said.
He added, “So in those four-day talks, let’s talk about what are the areas we might actually try and improve the promotions of Test cricket and ways of making it a little better to fit it in the schedule,” Gatting said.
(with PTI inputs)