Former Australian captain Mark Taylor has suggested test cricket be reduced from five days to four.

Forget the pink ball and day-night tests, former Australian captain Mark Taylor is calling for something more radical, believing cricket's long-version international format needs to be reduced to four days.

Taylor, who played 104 tests for Australia and is now a TV commentator, believes reducing tests from five days to four will keep the game in tune with its modern trends.

He said the power of Twenty20 and one-day internationals couldn't be ignored as cricket looked to spice up its test format.

GETTY IMAGES Innings like Ross Taylor's marathon 290 against Australia might be harder to accomplish if test cricket was reduced to four days, as suggested by former Aussie skipper Mark Taylor.

Taylor suggested starting tests on Thursdays, run them over four days with the final day being played on a crowd-friendly Sunday rather than Monday or Tuesday finishes that are currently staple fare.

He also suggested a world test championship culminating in a final could also liven the test arena.

"You've got to look at the game as a whole. Where is cricket going? The younger generation generally want more instant gratification and I think over five days to keep them interested in the game is not so easy," Taylor told News Corp.

"But if you have four good days of test cricket, it would finish on the Sunday and you have more chance of people coming along to the final day's play.

"It takes out Monday play, which a lot of people from what I've seen over the last 10 or 15 years of test match cricket, not a lot of people come to that final day.

"I don't think the broadcasters would mind if you got down to the four days either, with the game finishing over the weekend and not on a Monday.

"As someone said to me years ago, why are we surprised when people go to one-day cricket and T20 cricket more than they do a test match, when we put all the one-dayers and T20s on in school holidays and at night, and we put test matches on during the week outside of school holidays."

Australia and New Zealand play the historic day-night test in Adelaide, starting on Friday in an attempt to introduce fresh life into the long-form game.

Taylor, who has advocated four-day tests in the past believes there is a growing sentiment towards change. He also felt an actual test championship, culminating in a final would add spice.

"I've mentioned this at ICC level and it's something we need to have a serious look at … and I think we're starting to get some ideas together now.

"People are more about who is the best in the world at the moment. They like watching World Cup finals… if you're always working towards who is the best test team in the world, that can only help the game."

Taylor has also been critical of the batting-friendly wickets that have dominated the early Australian summer with Brisbane and Perth providing run-fests with little encouragement for the bowlers.

"(Test cricket) needs exciting games, good battles between bat and ball and results," Taylor said.

"You don't need attritional games of cricket that require declarations for results.

"The balance is too skewed towards the bat in Australia at the moment.

"We have to allow groundsman to leave a bit of a grass on it, and that might mean a side is bowled out for 150 on day one.

"Then we (have to make sure we) don't jump down their backs for it, we have to give them a little bit more freedom to produce a pitch that is fair between bat and ball."