Changes proposed for the International Cricket Council Test championship will likely see surnames and numbers displayed on the back of playing shirts.

Player surnames and numbers have been displayed on playing shirts in ODI and T20I cricket for several years, but this would be a first in the longest format of the international game – and might happen as soon as the Ashes series between England and Australia in August 2019.

‘It doesn’t bother me in the slightest, and I think if it helps the fans then that’s a good thing,’ Australian Test batsman Travis Head told cricket.com.au.

‘That’s why they brought it into Shield cricket, so that people could identify players they probably don’t see all that often, especially now with games being live-streamed.

‘Obviously, the detail in the television coverage these days is pretty good, so I guess this is aimed more at people who are at the ground.

‘It’s not like the introduction of the pink ball for Test cricket, it’s one of those innovations that won’t have a huge impact on the game itself. But if it means kids can identify their favourite player a bit more easily at the ground, then I’m all for it.

‘The Shield shirt number), 34, I just got given on the first day in the job, so I stuck with it. But that number was taken when I debuted for Australia, so I had an opportunity to look through the numbers and just took a fresh one that hadn’t been used before, and started from there.’

Australia are the reigning Ashes title holders, but have not won the series in the United Kingdom since 2001.

The introduction of a so-called ‘shot clock’, too, has been proposed for Test cricket.

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