"I'm not against progress, but involving struggling countries in quality events such as the World Cup and Tests simply makes a mockery of records," the former Australia fast bowler wrote in The West Australian newspaper on Tuesday.

"It became obvious to me, after watching the World Cup one-day contest earlier this year and the indifferent performances from some teams, that the game is degenerating into a money-driven event because of television.

"Is the ICC (International Cricket Council) more concerned about keeping test cricket elite, or developing the game purely to maximise TV revenue without the slightest concern about compromising the structure and history of the game?"

Bangladesh, ranked last in the ICC's 10-nation Test championship, arrived in Australia this week for what is expected to be a hugely one-sided test series.

Bangladesh gained Test status in 2000 and have lost 18 of their 19 matches while drawing a rain-shortened test against Zimbabwe. Australia are the top-ranked test nation as well as the World Cup holders.

Lillee added: "Nobody worked harder than (former West Indies pace man) Courtney Walsh for his world-record 519 wickets, but he is going to be absolutely swamped because of what's up for grabs these days."

Lillee, 53, proposed that under-performing test nations could be relegated to a second division and their matches would count for first-class statistics only.

The ICC announced last week that it intended to consider similar proposals during a wide-ranging review of the sport.

Named last year by Wisden as the seventh-best bowler in Test history, Lillee took 355 wickets in 70 Tests, playing his last game in January 1984.