The International Cricket Council (ICC) announced today a new co-ordinated ten-year Test and One-Day International programme, a new ICC Test Championship and a major step towards a fully professional independent international umpiring system.

The decisions were announced after a two-day ICC Executive Board meeting in Melbourne (February 10 and 11) and are part of a series of significant initiatives for international cricket approved by the Board.

The future tours programme involves all ten Test playing countries playing home and away series against each other over each five-year period.

The meeting also agreed to introduce an official ICC Test Championship commencing with England's forthcoming home series against Pakistan.

ICC President, Mr Malcolm Gray, said the decisions were the start of a new era in international cricket.

In other announcements:

· The Cricket Committee - Playing would conduct its three yearly review of standard playing conditions in London on May 23-25. The review, to be headed by Sunil Gavaskar, will examine questions such as the use of television replays in umpiring decisions.

· Minale Tattersfield Bryce has been appointed to design and develop a new ICC corporate identity and brand identities for the ICC World Cup, ICC Knockout, ICC Trophy and ICC Under 19 World Cup by June this year. These strong new identities will enhance ICC brand equity and the effectiveness of the ICC's agreement with World Sport and News Corporation.

· The ICC Trophy for Canada will be held in July this year with the three top teams in the competition going on to the 2003 ICC World Cup.

The new ICC Test Championship will be structured on a rolling league basis and gets under way with a table based on recent results between countries.

The system used for calculating the rankings will be based on the results of latest series, home and away, between each of the teams. Two points will be allocated for winning a series and one for a drawn rubber. The result of each series will replace the previous equivalent. The ICC is working with Wisden to source the relevant historical data to compile the first league table.

Mr Gray said: "The aim of both the tours programme and the ICC Test Championship is to add interest, context and status to Test match cricket. 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 also provide newer Test-playing nations such as Zimbabwe and Bangladesh with regular fixtures against all other teams."

Umpires and Referees The ICC has also agreed in principle to implement a progressive new system for the appointment of independent umpires and match referees. A target date of April 2002 has been set for the introduction of two panels of international umpires. One will be an elite group of up to eight full-time umpires contracted to the ICC, while the second will be termed an emerging panel, made up of between 25 to 30 umpires.

The aim of the new structure is to provide the highest standard of umpiring in all international fixtures.

Each member country will be asked to appoint an umpires manager (six already have them). There will also be an ICC umpires manager appointed to co-ordinate international efforts to recruit high quality new entrants and raise umpiring standards across the international game.

A similar approach is also to be taken with ICC match referees. A full-time panel of up to eight referees will be contracted to the ICC and assigned to international series. A supplementary panel will be allocated to cover other ICC-approved international tournaments. Formal criteria will be introduced to encourage the recruitment of a new generation of referees to the panels.

ICC Chief Executive, Mr David Richards, said implementation of the new umpiring agreement would be staged over three years.

Other Agenda Items

The Executive Board also approved Christchurch, New Zealand, as the venue for next year's third ICC Under-19 World Cup that will see 16 teams compete.

The meeting also received an update on progress in recruiting a new ICC Chief Executive to succeed David Richards. An international search is under way. No details of individual candidates were announced.

Under the ICC Development Programme a full-time High Performance Manager will be recruited to assist the three qualifying Associate Members, and Kenya, prepare for the 2003 South Africa ICC World Cup. The Development Programme's $US 13 million budget was also approved.

Ends.

For further information contact:
Mark Harrison
ICC Communications Manager
Tel: 00 44 (0) 20 7266 7913/1818
Email: mark.harrison@icc.cricket.org


David Richards
ICC Chief Executive
c/o Park Hyatt Hotel +61 3 9224 1234

Australia
Turnbull Porter Novelli
Noel Turnbull or Paul Crisp
Tel: 00 61 3 9289 9555
Email: nturnbull@porternovelli.com.au or pcrisp@porternovelli.com.au

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