South Africa and Zimbabwe are scheduled to play a four-day Test match later this month in Port Elizabeth and it has been decided that a minimum of 98 overs will be bowled on each day.

The African neighbors will play the inaugural four-day Test from Dec. 26, with the International Cricket Council (ICC) admitting it official status and welcoming other nations to experiment with the format.

According to the current playing conditions of ICC, a minimum of 90 overs need to be bowled per day during a five-day Test match, so the play will be extended for an extra 30 minutes to accommodate the additional eight overs in 4-day Tests.

A team will be needing just a minimum lead of 150 runs in the first innings in order to enforce the follow-on in Port Elizabeth, 50 runs less than the runs needed in the five-day format.

Test matches, the longest format of the game, have witnessed a consistent decline in the crowd in recent years. The format has come in for rigorous competition from the limited -overs format such as Twenty20Is and domestic leagues across the globe.

Officials and former cricketers have acknowledged the need to make Tests four-day affairs instead of five, hoping it would help them become more viewer friendly.