The Full Members outside the World Test Championship (WTC) and Associates might have a structure for more Test cricket in next calendar according to a report in the ESPNCricinfo.
According to some sources, teams like Afghanistan, Ireland and Zimbabwe who are the Full members but are not part of the WTC can be involved in the World Test champions including other associate countries like Netherlands, Scotland.
"I know it's been mooted," an Associate administrator told ESPNcricinfo. "I think every nation and every governing body is trying to find ways to make the game better. We're here to deliver cricket and improve the standards of cricket globally."
The Test commitments for the three members who are not a part of WTC is one of the major issues that needs to be resolved in the next calendar year.
The three nations have only played ten Tests among themselves since the beginning of the WTC in 2019.Though they have a busier Test calendar during the second cycle of WTC, it is nowhere close to the number of matches they should be playing against top-class nations to get themselves tested.
“What does it look like? Where would we want more cricket?,” said one administrator. “Would it achieve our ambitions? There’s a lot of things in the mix before you actually commit and dig deep into it. If it was kicking around, we’d certainly want to be in the conversation.”
There has not been any Muti-day international cricket since the last edition of the Intercontinental Cup concluded in December 2017 for the three the non-WTC trio and the Associate members. Subsequently financial issues will be the biggest hurdle if such structure comes up.
“It was a finance-driven issue,” said the administrator. “It was about affordability. Again, what does a new tournament look like? What is the cost of running it? You have to be able to fund it to do it properly. So until any detail is produced, you can’t make any informed decisions.”