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ICC proposal to scrap five Test series: report
AFP
23 December 1998
SYDNEY, Dec 23 (AFP) - Five Test series could be a thing of the past
if International Cricket Council (ICC) recommendations are accepted by
the world's cricket playing nations.
The ICC has commissioned the New Zealand Cricket Board to come up with
a proposal for a Test match world championship run over a four or
five-year period, the Sydney Daily Telegraph said Tuesday.
It involves each of the nine Test playing nations competing in four
series, two at home and two overseas, each year.
Each series would be no shorter than two Tests and all countries would
play each other over the four or five-year period, the paper says.
If Australia complies, for example, it would have to reduce its
traditional five Test series against the West Indies and England to
four and play two Tests against a lower ranked nation such as Zimbabwe
or Sri Lanka.
Australia and England have been playing five or six Test series since
1897, but England's poor form has seen them drop to seventh in the
pecking order of Test playing nations in the past decade.
All but one of the last 13 Ashes series has been decided before the
last Test and although Australia is almost certain to oppose the
changes there were strong arguments for a more equitable schedule, the
paper says.
The proposal will be discussed at length at an ICC meeting in
Christchurch in January.
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