ICC announce league table for Test supremacy

The 10 Test-playing nations will compete for world supremacy under a new ranking system, International Cricket Council (ICC) president Malcolm Gray said on Sunday.

Under the new system, starting on May 1, all 10 countries would play home and away series against each other within a five-year period as part of a 10-year Test and limited-overs programme, Gray told a news conference in Melbourne.

But icon series such as Australia v England, Australia v West Indies, England v West Indies and India v Pakistan, would be permitted to use four-year cycles instead of five.

The system is to begin with the England home series against Pakistan in May.

"The system used for calculating the rankings will be based on the results of laTest series, home and away, between each of the teams...(with) two points allocated for winning a series and one for a drawn rubber," Gray said.

The first league table would include results from the past five years of Test cricket.

INCREASED STATUS

Gray said the aim of both the tours programme and the ICC Test Championship was to add interest, context and status to Test match cricket.

"There is a feeling at times that the one-day internationals maybe have taken over the limelight a bit, away from the Test matches," Gray said, adding that a trophy would be awarded to the winners.

"Cricket is a statistical game in many ways and we would hope that a lot of supporters of the game would be interested in constantly monitoring who is on top of that ladder."

Gray said the plan for the tour programme had taken several years to prepare and two versions were considered, one of which included the top two nations playing in a championship final.

He said with the demands of tours, it was impossible to schedule a separate playing championship.

"This will be the first time a co-ordinated calendar of international cricket has been adopted, giving the opportunity for long-term planning and preparation.

"It will provide newer Test-playing nations such as Zimbabwe and Bangladesh with regular fixtures against all other teams."

COOPERATIVE APPROACH

ICC chief executive David Richards said all 10 Test-match countries had taken a cooperative attitude to the programme.

"Some countries will be playing a little out of season from time to time but that's all part of the new cooperative approach that we're seeing around the table at ICC," Richards told a news conference.

"I think it represents a very big change from the period in the past when countries tended to look after their own interests and the strong were strong and the weak hardly got a fair amount of cricket."

Gray praised the work of New Zealand cricket chief Chris Doig in formulating the 10-year programme.

The ICC also announced it would conduct a review of playing conditions in May, which would include discussion of the use of television replays in umpiring decisions, while a high-performance manager would be appointed to assist lesser nations to prepare for the 2003 World Cup.

Mail Cricket Editor