Wellington, July 19: In a bid to revolutionize Test cricket, New Zealand Cricket chief David White on Tuesday (July 19) has suggested to continue with Pink-ball Test, slash the Test format to four days and introduce two divisions.

In the modern era of Twenty20 cricket, the longest format of the game has struggled to garner crowds in the stadium, prompting the introduction of day-night Test cricket played under lights with a pink ball, last year.

The Black Caps were part of that first Pink-ball Test against Australia at Adelaide Oval. White has described the day and night Test as "one of the great sporting events".

White is of the view that Test cricket needs to keep innovating in order to improve its relevance.

He has suggested the idea of cutting the length of Tests from five days to four, which he said would "greatly assist with programming and player workloads".

The idea of four-day Tests was first floated by former Australian captain Mark Taylor. It has already been supported by Aussie greats Shane Warne and Greg Chappell, as well as England Cricket Board chairman Colin Graves.

White was quoted by ESPNCricinfo.com as saying, "We need to seriously look at it. One of the challenges at the moment is if you play a three-Test series it has to be played over four weeks. Four weeks is a long time.

"But if you play a three-Test series of four-day cricket, it can be played over three weeks, so you save a week."

White also supported plans to introduce two divisions in Test cricket, saying it would give greater "context" to the game, a move that has been vehemently opposed by 'weaker' Test playing nations.

"If we had a competition with promotion and relegation, and a winner at the end, it would really increase interest, no doubt about that," he said.

Test playing nations such as Bangladesh and Zimbabwe fear they will never get to play the top Test nations.

OneIndia News

(With inputs from agencies)