The International Cricket Council (ICC), it seems, is set to give its nod to four-day Tests as part of the World Test Championship (WTC) from the 2027-29 cycle onwards. The four-day Test as a product was sanctioned in 2017 by the ICC, where teams like Ireland and Zimbabwe — most recently playing against England — have gotten a chance to play teams such as England, India, Australia and South Africa but it seems now may be part of the Test championship as well to help the nations outside the big three to be able to host three-four match series.
As per the Guardian report, the ICC Chair Jay Shah has liked the idea of four-day Tests and be able to sanction the same for the WTC 2027-29 cycle for smaller nations, which can't take the load of hosting longer series due to costs, lack of infrastructure and Test following fans in the country. The four-day Test matches might help teams like South Africa, West Indies, New Zealand, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka be able to hold a minimum of three-match series, who otherwise are subjected to play just a couple of games against each other more often than not.
New Zealand, the inaugural Test champions, are hosting the West Indies for three Tests later this year, but they are very few and far in between. Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, who kicked off the new cycle in Galle on Tuesday, June 17 are scheduled to play just two Tests in all their six assignments in the next two years. In fact, Sri Lanka don't play a single Test match until next June after this series.
Similarly, Pakistan play just one three-match series, the West Indies and South Africa, the current Test champions, two each. In the Proteas' case, both the three-match assignments are against Australia and England.
As per the report, Australia, England and India will be allowed to play five-day Tests in a five-match series in the Ashes, the Border-Gavaskar Trophy and the Tendulkar-Anderson Trophy, the latest to enter the fold, however, in a bid to grow the game, longer series with increase in the number of matches for each of the other six nations might be the way to go for now, with the financial imbalance still there.