Test world championship plans shelved (11 January 1999)

11 January 1999

Test world championship plans shelved

AFP

CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand, Jan 11 (AFP) - Plans to set up a Test world championship were shelved Monday by the International Cricket Council's executive board.

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.

Source :: AFP