Timeless Tests could return to determine champions

LONDON (AP):

The INTERNATIONAL Cricket Council is considering scrapping time limits for the final of the inaugural world Test championship in 2013, returning cricket to the 1930s in the search for a definitive champion of the sport's longest format.

A so-called timeless Test places no duration constraints on players, allowing for an open-ended match until a result is secured. Regular Tests are limited to five days, but often end in a draw if either team can't bowl out the other's batsmen, or bad weather intervenes.

Haroon Lorgat, the International Cricket Council's chief executive, made the suggestion yesterday for a competition set to take place in England between the four highest-ranked Test teams in the world.

"It is common knowledge that we hope in 2013 the top four teams will be involved in two semi-finals and a final to determine a world Test champion,'' Lorgat said. "Whether (drawn games) are decided on a first-innings basis or on runs scored in the game, we don't know. But they will come up with a viable formula to determine a winner.

"The final may be a timeless Test. At this stage we don't know, but we are looking into the mechanics.''

The last timeless Test was between South Africa and England at Durban in 1939, however, the match was declared a draw when no result was possible after nine days of play across 12 days. The England players had to leave or they would have missed the ship home.

Longest test

As it was, England's fourth-innings total of 654-5 is still the record for a first-class match by 50 runs. The Test is also the longest.

"Statistics tell us that most Test matches now produce a result inside five days, but it may yet be a timeless test,'' Lorgat said. "It is a work in progress, but I would favour finding a winner because you want a world champion.''

Meanwhile, South Africa forced Test captain Graeme Smith to withdraw from the Champions League Twenty20 tournament yesterday to allow him to fully recover from knee surgery in time for the international season.

Cricket South Africa said Smith's six-eight week recovery period following last week's operation on his right knee will be complete before the September 23 start of the Champions League, but the left-handed opener is out of the event as "a precaution.''

Smith aggravated an old injury playing for Pune Warriors in the Indian Premier League in April and underwent a successful cartilage operation on Friday, CSA said.

"Although his rehabilitation period will be over by the time the Champions League commences, we feel that he will not be match-ready at the time,'' Proteas team manager Mohammed Moosajee said. "He will now undergo a guided rehabilitation programme in the coming weeks, and hopefully, he will recover in time for the start of a very busy international summer.''

The Proteas host Australia in two Tests, three one-dayers, and two Twenty20s from October 13.