Four-day Test matches could become mandatory as part of the World Test Championship from 2023, with the ICC's cricket committee likely to formally consider the change in 2020, reports ESPNcricinfo.

"It is something that we have got to seriously consider," Cricket Australia chief executive Kevin Roberts told SEN Radio this week.

"It is something that can't be driven by emotion, but it needs to be driven by fact. We need to look at what's the average length of Test matches over the past five-ten years in terms of time and overs," he added.

The ICC's increasing demand for event windows, the proliferation of domestic T20 leagues, the BCCI's demands for its own sizable share of bilateral calendar space, and the costs of staging Test series are all factors contributing to the move, which would shave off a significant amount of time from the calendar for the 2023 to 2031 cycle, the report added.

As an example, mandatory four-day Test matches rather than five-day matches during the current cycle from 2015 to 2023 would have freed up a total of 335 days of scheduled cricket. ICC is also considering to schedule Test matches on a Thursday-to-Sunday basis, like the major golf tournaments.

"There are two aspects to four-day Tests, the cricket aspect and the scheduling aspect," Tony Irish, the head of the international players' body FICA told ESPNcricinfo.

"Unfortunately with the ICC there is a history of introducing these types of changes in an unstructured way and that would need to change. We reckon they need to do a lot of work on how the schedule will look and not just present it as a concept," Irish added.

Four-day Tests have already been added to the calendar in a limited form, for matches such as a Test between South Africa and Zimbabwe, and then England hosting Ireland earlier this year. Australia will likely play its first four-day Test against Afghanistan at home next summer.

Australia captain Tim Paine provided the contrasting view in Melbourne on Sunday (Dec 29).

"We might not have got a result if we'd done that in the Ashes, I think every game went to a fifth day," he said. "That's the point of difference with Test cricket, it is five days, it's harder mentally, it's harder physically, and it tests players more than the four-day first-class fixtures do. I think that's what it's designed to do, so I hope it stays that way."