Tim Wigmore discusses the pros and cons of the ICC’s four-day Test experiment after a flop in the inaugural match

Tim Wigmore

The contrast could hardly have been greater. In the Boxing Day Test at Melbourne, the opening days produced a slowburning classic, a game of shifting tempo and advantages hard won and easily lost. It was hard to imagine that much had changed between the Centenary Test match at the MCG 40 years earlier, which was commemorated during this game.
Six thousand miles away, in Port Elizabeth, another Test begun on Boxing Day. By the end of December 27, it was all o...