Along with conceding that the Test Championship is likely doomed, the "working group" which put together the proposals also recognized that limited-overs cricket continues to pay for the five-day game, which is struggling to make money outside major contests like the Ashes series.
In future, test series would be bilateral agreements between two countries, the paper proposed, moving away from the ICC-controlled Future Tours Program. It gives India, England and Australia greater scope to avoid unprofitable series against smaller teams.
New Zealand Cricket partially backed the new proposals if the current test calendar, which is planned to 2020, is kept.
"We must have a test-playing program which sees New Zealand playing all of the major countries in the same sort of cyclical way as we have been doing," NZC director Martin Snedden said. "That is a fundamental outcome for us and just about every other country."
Yet the proposals require India, England and Australia to play only a minimum of three tests and five limited-overs matches -- effectively one series -- against each of the other teams in an eight-year cycle.
