Bangladesh tours could be scaled back

Ehsan Mani, the new president of the International Cricket Council (ICC), has warned Kenya that their wish to be granted full Test status will have to wait a while - and also revealed that Bangladesh's tours may be scaled down as a consequence of their poor results.

After their surprising progression to the World Cup semi-finals, Kenya sought promotion to Test level. However, Mani was not about to offer much encouragement, citing Bangladesh's Test failures for his reluctance to sanction it.

"Kenya's performance in the World Cup was exciting, but the step-up from the one-day game to Test cricket is a huge and difficult one," he said. "Test cricket's newest member, Bangladesh, is also facing a challenging time. The performance of Bangladesh at the international level has been disappointing."

Although he insisted that Bangladesh would receive help with training and development programmes, Mani added: "Over the next two years there may be a reduction in the amount of international cricket Bangladesh is playing, particularly outside Bangladesh."

Since their elevation in November 2000, Bangladesh's record does not make pleasant reading. They have lost 18 out of 19 Tests - 13 of those by an innings - and show no signs of improving. They also lost all their matches in the 2003 World Cup, except one which was washed out.

At the other end of the scale, Mani did announce that six new countries - Iran, Malawi, Mozambique, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia and Zambia - would become affiliate members of the ICC, taking the overall number of member countries to 89. "The 2003 World Cup gave us an opportunity to assess the success of the development programme," said Mani. "I believe it highlighted very publicly how handsomely this investment is paying off."