SANTA CRUZ (Trinidad): Legendary West Indies batsman Brian Lara believes Test cricket should scrap draws in order to add to the excitement of the game’s longest format.

Lara, the only player in Test history to have posted a quadruple-century, said the five-day game needed to continue evolving in order to be relevant and attractive to contemporary audiences, while also bringing in new markets, reports cricket.com.au.

“One of the complaints by an American is, ‘how can you play a game for five days and it ends up in a draw?’,” Lara told the BBC.

“I would like to maybe see results in every single Test match. I know 70 per cent of the time the game takes its natural course and you get a result, [but] maybe find a way where you structure the game … you have 450 overs in five days, come up with some formula that can bring a win at the end of it.”

The West Indian retired from the international game in 2007, just as the Twenty20 revolution was gathering steam, and is a supporter of the short format, largely due to its appeal to new audiences.

“I am pro T20, because I played in a period where Test cricket was waning, the crowds were a bit smaller, and I grew up in the 1970s and 1980s, lining up at 5am to watch a Test match in a packed house,” Lara said.

Published in Dawn, April 26th, 2017