Cricket Australia boss James Sutherland has revealed South Africa's Test series against Australia next summer will be limited to three Tests, while he has also backed reducing Tests from five to four days.

Asked directly on Grandstand on Saturday if the 2016-17 season would have six Tests rather than seven - three each against South Africa and Pakistan - Sutherland answered with one word: "Yes."

It is understood the decision to axe a scheduled fourth Test against the world's number one team was made at a CA board meeting on Friday, directors believing that a seven-Test summer was one too many.

A fourth Test had been mooted based on the success of previous South African tours of Australia.

Sutherland also said that building on the initial success of the inaugural day-night Test that four-day matches could be the next innovation championed for the longest form of the game.

He "absolutely" supports looking at scrapping the fifth day of Tests, concluding that they are costing cricket money and are having an effect on the preparation of pitches too slanted in favour of bat over ball.

Loading...

"I think there's elements of that where, if we could get it right, you wouldn't lose too much time," he said.

"You might play a little bit longer, we played under lights last night, you could play a longer day.

"I've heard the argument that the spinners play a lesser role because you wouldn't have a fifth day but lengthening the day, the spinner will actually have more of a role to play.

"We lose money on the fifth day. So if there was any advantage at all in a financial sense, or a commercial sense, the advantage would actually be to shorten the game."

Sutherland, a major protagonist behind the pink ball day-night Test, acknowledged his interest in pioneering the four-day Test proposition at a global level.

"Certainly I'm very supportive of the idea and pursuing that a little bit further and the extent to which ICC might allow that is something that remains to be seen," he said.

Championship ladder an idea for the future: Sutherland

Sutherland went on to say that idea should be folded into broader reforms being mooted for consideration by the International Cricket Council, including the introduction of a football-style league ladder, and the abolition of draws.

"I like it being connected to some other reforms, around the relevance of Test cricket, perhaps as a Test championship where the result becomes even more important.

"I've heard that argument about no draws, but also extra points, maybe for a win - you see in soccer three points for a win, one point for a draw, that sort of thing is part of a league championship.

"It adds extra relevance to that result, and perhaps gets people to play differently."

The CA boss expressed displeasure at the pitches prepared in Brisbane and Perth, suggesting a greater balance can be achieved by only requiring a pitch to prevail for four days instead of five.

"The other thing is pitches, pitches being prepared for a four-day game, rather than necessarily a five-day game," he said.

"I think that's a big, big thing, the balance between bat and ball is really important.

"We haven't seen the right balance in the last two Tests here, and that's why it was refreshing to see a really good contest yesterday."