Cricket: Black Caps' trouble with making day five

Tom Latham walks back after out during the third day of the third test cricket match between India and New Zealand in Indore. Photo / AP

It seems the Black Caps might inadvertently be behind recent suggestions that test cricket should be shortened to four days with yet another test failing to go the distance overnight.

The Black Caps' third test defeat to India overnight was the third time in the last four tests featuring New Zealand that ended without reaching day five.

Late last year, former Australian cricket captain Mark Taylor suggested test cricket should be played across four days, ideally from Thursday through to Sunday.

A closer look shows that New Zealand tests are more or less shortening themselves.

The Black Caps have played 44 tests under Mike Hesson, winning 14, losing 20 and drawing 10 to give Hesson a 45 per cent win rate. Overall, 19 of Hesson's 44 tests (43 percent) have failed to go the distance.

As many as 60 per cent of the Black Caps' defeats under Hesson took less than five days (one-third of those quick losses lasted just three days).

A similar trend has emerged in the Black Caps' victories, given 50 per cent of test victories under Hesson lasted four days.

Hesson's initial reaction to suggestions of four-day tests was mixed.

In November 2015 he said: ''How many overs in a day, whether this is all test matches from now on, there's too many variables for me to give an informed decision.

''I like the fact that over the five days every player in the squad has a chance to make an impact.

''I'm sure there will be financial implications of shortening [tests], some good and some bad, but I don't really know enough yet."

In the early days of test cricket, matches were played over three or four days (some were also unlimited), and until the 1980s it was usual to include a rest day.

Taylor has tried to spark a comeback for four-day test cricket, comparing it to tournament golf. He suggested cricket tests, like golf tournaments, could start on Thursdays then climax on Sundays before starting again the next Thursday.

Taylor suggests that eliminating Monday play would also draw more fans.

"If you have four good days of test cricket, it would finish on the Sunday and you have more chance of people coming along to the final day's play," Taylor told NewsCorp.

"It takes out Monday play, which a lot of people from what I've seen over the last 10 or 15 years of test match cricket, not a lot of people come to that final day."

Taylor's call for change came after the first pink ball day-night test between Australia and New Zealand in November 2015.