Micky Arthur: Fabric of Test cricket should not be messed up with

Mickey Arthur

Pune: Newly anointed Sri Lanka head coach Mickey Arthur today spoke out against the move to reduce Test cricket to a four-day affair, saying the fabric of the longest format of the game should not be tinkered with.

"Look, five-day Test cricket is the way to go. Test cricket challenges you mentally, physically and technically and a result comes a lot of a time on the fifth day. We just witnessed a very good Test match [England versus South Africa] that finished on Day Five," said the South Africa-born coach ahead of his team's deciding T20 International at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Gahunje here.

"I know, we can talk about financial pressures and that type of stuff. I think the fabric of Test cricket should not be messed [up] with. You want wicketsdeteriorating on Day Five, you want [situations] where there is lot of really good, exciting draws where one team plays it. I definitely think five-day Test cricket is the way to go, without doubt," he declared emphatically.

Also supporting retention of the five-day Test was India's chinaman bowler Kuldeep Yadav."To be very honest, I will prefer five-day test cricket. Test cricket is made for five days and I would not like to see any changes in it. According to me, a thing which is classic, if is kept like that, then it is better," was his short answer to the question.

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