London, Dec. 16 : England and Wales Cricket Board Chairman Giles Clarke believes there will be changes to the structure of Test match cricket that will preserve its status as the `summit of the game'.

Interviewed in the January issue of The Wisden Cricketer magazine and asked to predict where cricket will be in five years time, Clarke says: "The game has to decide what the ICC does, what is its role. It has to determine its calendar over a lengthy period. Four years is not practical. At the same time we have to respect quality. Test cricket is the summit of the game and it must be played by the best countries. There is no doubt that when Test cricket is good, it is wonderful."

Asked if that means less Test cricket but better Test cricket, he says: "Yes. That is the real test of the player in mental and physical strength," he says, "the tension and excitement we feel as a series develops."

The ECB has already acted to secure the involvement of the best teams in series against England by recently signing both South Africa and India to five-match `icon' status series, to go alongside the Ashes.

50 over international cricket is also singled out for attention by Clarke, who makes a withering assessment of last year's World Cup in the Caribbean. "We have to care about the World Cup as a major event. The 2007 World Cup was unsuccessful in virtually every feasible aspect. The 2011 World Cup is a huge thing for the ICC because they have to get it right."

The January issue of The Wisden Cricketer, the world's best-selling cricket monthly, is on sale at leading outlets from Friday 19 December and includes a free Heroes of Cricket supplement featuring West Indies legend Sir Vivian Richards. (ANI)