One of cricket’s oldest traditions, the five-day Test, "could be a thing of the past" if the England & Wales Cricket Board has its way, according to David Clough of the London INDEPENDENT. Plans are "afoot to introduce four-day Test matches." The ECB confirmed on Wednesday "the existence of a document, quoted by Cricinfo as containing plans for a streamlined County Championship and the inauguration of a Premier League-style Twenty20 competition" -- possibly by reducing the number of home Tests each summer. The "Strategy Conversation Summary" also reportedly recorded interest at the ECB in "pushing for four-day rather than five-day Tests" and "one-day internationals lasting only 40 instead of 50 overs per side" by the '19 World Cup. The document is "part of a raft of literature being drafted and exhaustive consultation to be undertaken in preparation for a review of the structure of English cricket," overseen by new ECB CEO Tom Harrison (INDEPENDENT, 2/25). Also in London, Ali Martin reported incoming ECB Chair Colin Graves has "moved to assure cricket supporters" that radical ideas for the future of the English game "are not cast in stone." The “Strategy Conversation Summary” emerged on the ESPNCricinfo website on Wednesday "listing a raft of possible changes to the sport" that included a reduction of summer Test matches, three-day first-class cricket and a brand-new Twenty20 competition. But Graves "insists the document was merely a gathering of ideas, both feasible and leftfield." Graves: "It's just something where everyone has thrown into the pot -- there's nothing to read into it. There are no agendas, nothing has been pre-empted and nothing is cast in stone" (GUARDIAN, 2/26).
