Int'l Cricket Council CEO Dave Richardson said that a league system for test cricket "could be in place by 2019," according to Stephan Shemilt of the BBC.
The "one-sided nature" of England's current series against Sri Lanka led former captain Michael Vaughan "to call for a promotion and relegation system." Richardson:
"Hopefully we can make a decision by the end of the year over what structure to implement." Currently, the only global competition for Test cricket is the ICC rankings. Richardson: "If you want to create a real champion Test team, you need a competition that provides the same number of opportunities." Vaughan suggested "a system that would see teams split into three leagues of four." Richardson: "Test cricket over five days, historically being played in series, lends itself to a league running over at least two years as opposed to a one-off competition where everyone comes to one country. It will be quite difficult. Everyone wants to play Test cricket so we need to find a structure that caters to that" (BBC, 6/1).
