ICC wants 15-16 teams to play cricket at highest level

David Richardson, chief executive of the International Cricket Council (ICC), has said that the cricket body is keen on increasing the number of teams playing cricket at the highest level to 15-16 and is working towards that under Shashank Manohar's leadership.

"The ICC has a strategy to have more competitive teams playing at the highest level," ESPNcricinfo quoted Richardson as saying. "For too long we had 10 Full Members. If we are honest with ourselves, there are eight, probably nine, teams that can play cricket at the highest level."

"We like to increase that number to 15-16 countries [with] the likes of Afghanistan, Nepal, Malaysia and various other countries in the Asian region. It's very important that we can develop their cricket to a level where they can play against the big boys on an equal basis," he added.

The ICC chief executive said the cricket's global governing body was on the verge of putting forward some proposals "that would do wonders for international cricket".

"Those proposals would cover governance and a new revised financial model, which would hopefully provide all the Full Members with a bigger slice of the cake than what it is currently envisaged," he said.