MELBOURNE: The International Cricket Council is eyeing June 2013 for the inaugural Test World Championship and will use current rankings to decide the four playoff spots, CEO Haroon Lorgat told Australian radio Sunday. Test cricket currently has a rankings system but no tournament to determine the top test nation. The ICC has proposed a quadrennial tournament with the four best-performing nations to meet in semifinals before playing off for the world title in a bid to boost flagging interest in the longest form of the sport. “I think the first possible opportunity for us to have a playoff is in 2013 which means that the current rankings table would need to be used,” Lorgat said. “For example, right now Australia would be struggling to qualify for the playoffs. But there may be another scenario with somebody else would also be in the frame depending on this result they might slip in.” Lorgat was speaking on the sidelines of the third day of the second Ashes Test between Australia, ranked fifth in the current Test standings, and fourth-placed England. “Going forward we're looking at a league table that would be worked on points and for match winnings,” Lorgat said, but details on how to treat draws, which occur regularly in Test cricket, were yet to be decided. Lorgat also confirmed the 2015 One-Day International World Cup to be held in Australia and New Zealand would be stripped from 14 teams to 10, while the biennial Twenty20 World Cup tournament would be expanded from 12 to 16. Sri Lanka will host the next Twenty20 World Cup in 2012. Kochi gets IPL green light The Indian Premier League Sunday cleared the new Kochi franchise to take part in the lucrative Twenty20 cricket tournament from next year, ending a long dispute over the team's ownership structure. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), which owns the IPL, had delayed its decision on Kochi's fate three times after demanding its owners resolve a shareholding disagreement. “The Kochi Franchisee has satisfactorily responded to the notice issued to them by the BCCI,” BCCI secretary N. Srinivasan said in a press release after a meeting of the IPL governing council in Mumbai. “It has been decided that the franchise Kochi Cricket Pvt. Ltd would play in the IPL from 2011 onwards.” The inclusion of Kochi means at least eight teams will compete in the fourth edition of the IPL, which is set to start on April 8 next year. Lanka series ends in draw Sri Lanka and West Indies drew their three-match test series 0-0 after the final match had to be abandoned because of rain. Sri Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara won the toss and invited the visitors to bat first. But the weather allowed just 103.3 overs for the entire match, during which the West Indies scored 303-8. Persistent rain Sunday forced Australian match referee Alan Hurst to call off the day without a ball being bowled at Pallekelle International Stadium.
