A World championship without a definite start or conclusion poses problems for even the most committed fan.

Add to the mix one team without an apparent challenger and another unable to win a match and the headaches mount for the International Cricket Council.

Under a rolling system, decided on the results of matches between each of the 10 Test nations, the currently invincible Australians are world champions. At the far end of the table languish Bangladesh, yet to win a Test match.

For the spectator the significance of each individual match is not immediately apparent. Demands for an annual championship are certain to increase after a radical plan for one-day matches presented by Australian Cricketers' Association chief executive Tim May on Thursday.

May recommended abolishing the present, crowded one-day schedule and substituting an annual championship for the 11 one-day nations, who would play each other three times during the course of a year.

The vexed issue of the rolling Test championship will be raised at an ICC executive board meeting at Lord's this month.

Last month the ICC relaunched the championship after conceding that its previous concept, based on series results dating back to 1996, had failed to capture the popular imagination.

The new system, which stretches Australia's lead at the top of the standings, is a fairer reflection of the current stage of Test cricket. Its problem is that it no more likely to excite the public.

TOTAL FAILURE

Another problem with the championship is the total failure of Bangladesh to make any impact since their admittance as the 10th Test nation.

Bangladesh have managed one draw, thanks to rain, in 19 Tests. Thirteen of their losses have been by an innings.

The ICC remain committed to keeping Bangladesh in the fold and there is not thought to be any support for a two-tier championship.

But in an increasingly competitive sporting marketplace, the appeal of an annual Test championship is obvious. The championship would start anew every year with each country playing a home or an away match against each of the other nine nations.

The burden of trying to fulfill the present schedule is a concern to Australia captain Ricky Ponting.

"All the players want to play as much cricket for Australia as they can but at the same time don't want to be worn out, fatigued and have their careers cut a little bit shorter than they might have been," he said.

"That's the biggest fear we've got in the team and we've mentioned that to various people and hopefully people will start listening to us pretty soon."

One solution might be to coordinate championships in both forms of cricket, cutting down on the proliferation of one-day games which have been blamed for the recent match-fixing scandals.

"Cricket authorities have identified that cricket is potentially damaged by the over-scheduling of uneven matches yet they continue to put more of it out there for us to consume," May said.

ICC president Malcolm Gray of Australia, who hands over to Pakistan's Ehsan Mani this month, has expressed concern about the number of one-sided matches and his country's current pre-eminence.

"On many occasions I have put it to the Australian Cricket Board that they are living in a fool's paradise," Gray told The Australian newspaper last Saturday.

"Their team is the best team in the world undoubtedly, they're financially secure, their administration is at least equal to the best in the world.

"It is very easy in Australia to have a rosy view of cricket and not realise the problems internationally. It's a very serious problem."

The problem would seem to rest with the ICC rather than the Australian board, whose responsibility is essentially to their own players. The international board's response will be awaited with interest at a post board meeting news conference on June 19.