Four-day Test matches threaten to spell the end of the spinner, cricket administrators have been warned, as the push to shorten the traditional format gathers pace.
Former Australian spinner Tim May is concerned about the ramifications for spin bowling and fears the move may also lead to more draws.
The idea of four-day Tests has been discussed by the International Cricket Council's Cricket Committee and will be on the agenda for the Marylebone Cricket Club's Cricket Committee – of which May is a member – which will meet in Adelaide this week before the historic day-night Test.
Other members of the MCC's 14-person committee include Ricky Ponting, Rod Marsh and Kumar Sangakkara.
Cricket Australia chief James Sutherland supports the concept, which would allow matches to follow the golf model of starting on a Thursday and climaxing on Sundays, when most people can watch.
One scenario would involve play being extended by 10 overs from 90 to 100 a day, making Tests a maximum of 400 overs as opposed to the current 450.
May, who played 24 Tests in the 1980s and '90s before becoming an influential players' representative, believes shorter Tests spell bad news for spinners.
"Let me put my old spinner's cap on, I would hate it," May said. "If you want to spell the death of spinners, you'd have a four-day track rather than a five-day track.
"The spinner's role has been diminished in the first place by the advent of reverse swing in the overs that you'd bowl spin 20 years ago.
"By going from five- to four-day cricket, that would increasingly lessen the role of the spinner in the game, and that's another consideration people who will discuss [this] need to think through before they decide their solid position on that matter."
May was also concerned a shorter game, combined with less deterioration of pitches, would make it easier for teams in trouble to play for stalemates. That would lead to more draws and further jeopardise the future of Test cricket.
"It'll just increase those calls as interest wanes and things that go for four days produce absolutely no result," May said.
"Are you better off going for five days and ensuring you do get a result? While supporters will point out the benefits of it, there are negatives associated with such moves.
"What outweighs each other? To make a fully informed decision rather than just a partly informed decision is the secret to producing any outcome, be it business or sport."
May is also worried there are not enough sunlight hours in places such as the subcontinent to fit in the longer hours of play.
While the MCC's think tank comprises some of the biggest names in world cricket and includes ICC boss Dave Richardson, any decisions it makes are not binding.
For the shortening of Test matches to take place, it must go through a multi-step process at ICC level.
First it needs to be passed by the ICC's Cricket Committee for consideration by the Chief Executive Committee, and passed at board level. The earliest it can be put to the board will be the ICC's annual conference in June 2016.
Former Australian Test captain Mark Taylor – a strong advocate of four-day Tests and a CA board member – is on the ICC's Cricket Committee, which is chaired by former Indian spin great Anil Kumble and includes national coach Darren Lehmann.
The committee was "not of the view that Tests should be shorter than five days", the ICC said after a meeting in May, but it acknowledged the game needed to be open to proposals that enhanced the public appeal of Test cricket.
