In the ideal world of that insatiable dynamo Dr Ali Bacher, indeed, there will be a 40-over tournament played by all nine Test countries there as early as next September, on a brand new ground with turf pitches. In his role as chairman of the ICC's development committee, Dr Bacher, sometime Test captain and managing director of the United Cricket Board of South Africa, clinched a deal in a London hotel late last week with the director of sport at Disneyworld, Reggie Williams.
At the ICC meeting which concluded yesterday, the Test countries agreed that, whatever the feasibility of the tournament in September 1998, they would all play at Orlando at least once over the next three years in triangular one-day series in September or October. The resulting television coverage will, it is hoped, repay the Disneyworld organisation for their investment in a new ground in an area not exactly redolent of cricket.
David Richards, the chief executive, speaking after a meeting blessedly free of the tension which has attended ICC affairs in their years of political, racial and commercial disputes, reminded everyone of the answer to a popular question at cricket quizzes: the oldest international cricketing fixture is that between the United States and Canada. The purpose of matches in Florida will be, at least as far as Dr Bacher is concerned, to raise funds to help the development of the game in countries it has so far barely touched.
This, too, is the driving ambition of the two men now at the helm of the reshaped ICC: Richards himself, who has been given a five-year contract after his present one expires in 1998; and Jagmohan Dalmiya, the Calcutta businessman who is president of the council for the next three years. He presided over the lucrative but sometimes chaotic World Cup in India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka last year and trod on many toes to secure that tournament for the sub-continent, but the indications are that, having achieved his ambition to succeed Sir Clyde Walcott, he will grow into the role of a global ambassador for the game.
The executive board of the new council, reformed according to the plan laid down by Sir John Anderson of New Zealand, comprises the nine full members, three representatives from the 23 associate members, the new chairman of the associates, Jorgen Holman of Denmark, and the chairmen of three main committees: Walcott (cricket); Bacher (development); and Ehsan Mani of Pakistan (finance).
They have promised to review the direction that world cricket has taken in a haphazard way over recent times and in particular the volume of international cricket and the relationship between Test matches and one-day games. There were 41 Tests last year and 111 'official' one-day internationals, although who knows whether the Three Nations tournament for the Siaram Cup, which concluded at the weekend in Hyderabad, will be included in next year's figures. What is certain is that no one not immediately involved will care two farthings.
It will be some time, however, before the ICC decide on the possibility of balancing their four-yearly World Cup of one-day internationals with another championship consisting of Test matches. Bacher, who is still in favour of holding a one-day World Cup every two years rather than every four, said he nevertheless favoured a West Indian idea that there should be a Test championship every four years in which each country would play the others twice, at home and away - 16 matches in all during a calendar year.
``This is a complex issue,'' Dalmiya said. ``There are a number of different proposals of substance, each having an impact on the programme of future tours. A small committee comprising Sir John Anderson, Dr Ali Bacher and Mr Denis Rogers of Australia will investigate all options and report to the next executive meeting in mid-December in Calcutta.''
No doubt the sub-committee charged with this important decision will take advice from a meeting of the Test captains at Lord's on July 11, although only Bacher will be there to hear their views, along with Dalmiya, Walcott and two other members of the cricket committee, Doug Insole and Steve Camacho. All the captains have from time to time expressed reservations about the proliferation of international fixtures.
Not that they are likely to get fewer. Bangladesh's application for Test status was rejected but they will undertake an intensive programme of matches and 'A' team tours and their status will be reviewed next year. For the moment both Bangladesh and Kenya have been told that their one-day matches against Test countries will in future be official and games of longer duration played by them against other recognised first-class teams will be officially first-class.
Three new umpires were appointed to the national panel: Rudi Koertzon of South Africa, Javed Akhtar of Pakistan and V K Ramaswamy of India, and they will join another conference of umpires and referees on the National Grid panel in August 1998.
Approval was also given to a 16-nation World Youth Cup in South Africa next January - likely to be a prototype for the next World Cup, also involving 16 teams, in South Africa in 2003 and to the participation of all Commonwealth cricket nations at the Commonwealth Games in Malaysia in September next year.
Finally, membership of the ICC has been further widened by the acceptance of Belize, the Cayman Islands and Sweden as affiliate members.