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Karachi, Oct 19: The International Cricket Council (ICC), in a 10-year itinerary, has drawn Pakistan and India to play five Test series', an official of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) said.

Yawar Saeed, director of the PCB who returned last evening from Kenya after attending the ICC summit, added that the game's governing body circulated the itinerary amongst the members and gave them a Nov 15 deadline to come out with suggestions.

Yawar said when he pointed out to the ICC chairman Malcolm Gray that this itinerary looked difficult to implement because of India's reluctance for this winter's tour of Pakistan, Gray assured that the ICC would step in and request the Indian government.

"That's how the ICC got involved. It wants that its 10-year is implemented so that all the 10-Test playing nations play each other on regular basis," Yawar said.

Yawar said in the 10-year programme, each team has been drawn to meet the other at least twice.

He said Nov 15 has been set as deadline for the respective boards to discuss, approve and make recommendations if necessary.

Yawar Saeed said the issue of bowlers with suspected actions was also discussed. He said it was decided that if any bowler was called or reported for a suspect bowling action, his board will be given six weeks time to rectify this action.

"If the bowler is called or reported again after six weeks, he will be given three months to improve his action and a member of the ICC panel on illegal deliveries would be involved. However, in the entire period, the bowler will not be banned.

"Nevertheless, if the bowler is called after the completion of the process, he might be suspended," Yawar explained.

The PCB director said Kenya's request for Test status was also discussed. He said although Kenya put up a good show by organizing the ICC Knockout tournament, the ICC development committee would assess its infrastructure and standard of play before reconsidering its application again.

Federation of International Cricketers Association (FICA) also made a presentation at the ICC conference but were not granted licence to function as a liaison between the players and the ICC and between ICC and the boards.

The request was spurned on the ground that all the boards were doing the same thing pretty professionally. South African Barry Richards, Pakistan's Majid Khan and Australia's Tim May are the top officials of the association.

© Dawn