London, June 29: International Cricket Council has ruled out stripping minnows Bangladesh of their Test status, saying it was looking at ways to assist non-performing countries to improve their playing standards.

“Clearly, the ICC does not wish to see gaps in standards resulting in mismatches on the field, but it also does not believe that punishing teams for performing poorly provides necessary incentive to allow them to improve”, ICC president Ehsan Mani told reporters after Business Forum meeting here.

He said Bangladesh Under-19 team which visited Australia recently had performed very well beating host teams in seven of eight games.

“The current Bangladesh Test team is not exposed to that type of experience and it will pick up”, he said.

Mani said it was a matter that was considered carefully by the Board, over course of the year, through “Review of the Structure of Cricket” project.

There were several options that were put forward in this project that provided alternative playing programmes for all nations.

“What was never contemplated was that any country would be punished for its playing performance by being stripped of its Test status. ICC Board is looking at ways to assist countries improve their playing standards.”

On new rules introduced in one-day international matches, he said “we will try it over the next 10 months and if it is good we will introduce it regularly and if it damages the game, then we will not.” —PPI