Test world championship plans shelved

The sport's governing body could not agree whether to set up a stand-alone tournament or to reduce the number of one-day matches to give more time for all nine Test-playing countries to play each other over four years.

The team with the best record over the four year-period would have been declared world champions.

``It's a very complex issue,'' said ICC chief executive Dave Richards said who explained that some countries found the current fixture list ``inequitable''.

``New Zealand, Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka felt they didn't get enough Test cricket,'' he said.

He said in any case the five-test format for the Ashes Series between Australia and England or series between Australia and West Indies or South Africa and the West Indies would not have been threatened.

``The concept of a world championship was to strengthen areas where we are not strong not to weaken areas where we are strong,'' he said.

The ICC will study proposals to establish a new cycle of fixtures to ensure the small Test nations get a chance to face countries like Australia, England and West Indies.