The ICC, despite resistance from the MCC and its cricket committee, have approved a “trial” of four-day Test cricket, with South Africa and Zimbabwe playing the first official game of the new format on Boxing Day.

The trial is scheduled to run through until the 2019 World Cup, although participation in it is not mandatory.

This decision was taken in Auckland, where the ICC had also given an in-principle agreement to a Test championship to bring context back into the world game.

Most of those matches will take place over five days however ICC chief executive David Richardson says the four-day format can be quite helpful to the lower-ranked nations and the two newest Full Members Afghanistan and Ireland.

“The real value is, teams like Ireland and Afghanistan, even Zimbabwe who have not been at their best,” Richardson said. “They will be able to explore the opportunity of playing four-day Test matches. Teams visiting, for example, South Africa, might be more likely to play Zimbabwe in a four-day Test than they would in a five-day Test. So, I think it has a number of advantages.”

The Board approved a revised draft of Player Eligibility Regulations which will come into effect in due course. The key changes include:

• Eligibility on the basis of nationality (residency) has changed to the player needing to reside in country for a three-year period in both the men’s and women’s games. Eligibility on the basis of nationality (passport and birth) remains unchanged.
• Once a player has qualified to represent a country and has represented that country, he/she shall be considered eligible to play for that country forever more, without having to demonstrate satisfaction of the nationality eligibility criteria at subsequent events or matches.
• The stand out periods which apply when a player seeks to transfer and play for a second country have been amended to a flat three-year period regardless of membership status and gender.
• Given the change to the residency criteria, any player who has qualified for and represented a country in the three-year period leading up to the effective date of the new Regulations, will be deemed to be eligible for that country moving forward, and will not have to demonstrate satisfaction of the new residency criteria.
• Gender Recognition Policy and U19 Age Determination Policy incorporated into Player Eligibility Regulations and one universal disciplinary process will apply to all eligibility matters.