June 23, 2007	Saturday	Jamadi-us-Sani 07, 1428

MELBOURNE, June 22: The future of Australia's Boxing Day and New Year's Tests in Melbourne and Sydney cannot be guaranteed beyond 2008, according to a report due to be presented to the ICC next week.

Eight of the 10 Test-playing nations, including Australia, share the same southern hemisphere summer, and countries are becoming increasingly unhappy at Australia's monopoly of the season.

“We've got a traditional season that we've been operating for a long while, and we're keen to keep working with other nations to do that,” Peter Young, Cricket Australia's media manager told The Australian.

“The Boxing Day Test and the New Year's Test are iconic parts of the Australian summer.” South Africa, who also has its own Boxing Day and New Year's Test — except when they play in Australia — submitted a complaint to the ICC to request a review of the games' scheduling. This prompted the ICC to form a committee, lead by their chairman Malcolm Gray, and the resulting recommendations will be submitted to the ICC's executive boards at their annual meeting in London next week.

“The South African submission was along the line of concern that the existing scheduling and arrangements are equitable and the West Indian submission was based on their financial situation,” Gray said. “Putting forward that under existing arrangements it doesn't afford them sufficient financial support.”

But the impact on Australia would be significant if, after 2008, their two bumper Tests can't be guaranteed. CA and the Australian government commissioned a report earlier this month which revealed that the Boxing Day Test against England last December generated $86.4m for Victoria's economy, even though it only lasted three days.—Agencies