What is the ICC really saying?

Andrew Nixon, writing for Cricket Europe, dwells deeper into the qualification process for Associate nations to gain Test status.

Read that carefully. It says there will be a pathway to Test cricket, but it doesn't say what that pathway actually is. And that's because it isn't there. It is understood that whether an associate that wins the "Test Challenge" will get promoted is still to be decided - possibly at the annual conference in Melbourne in June. Everybody is assuming that will be the case of course, as that's what the ICC have said in previous press releases. But back in 2010, every press release about the World Cricket League said it was part of the qualification pathway to the 2015 World Cup. All of a sudden it stopped appearing in press releases. And then it was taken away as the ICC announced that the 2015 World Cup would be contested by the ten full members only.