Complaints about the Bangladeshis' on-field performances have been a regular theme of the last eight years, but it is financial logic that has now led the leading cricket powers to turn against them.
With a growing number of Twenty20 tournaments competing for space in the calendar, teams like England and Australia are no longer prepared to play loss-making series against a team that has failed to improve since their inaugural Test in November 2000. Bangladesh's overall record now stands at one win (against Zimbabwe) from 58 matches.
"There is no reason why a team should have to play Test matches just because it is a full member of the International Cricket Council," said ICC president David Morgan. "If a team is not gaining anything from the experience, then perhaps it might be better to settle for one-day international status."
Bangladesh's future will be discussed at the ICC executive board meeting in Perth at the end of January. They will receive little support from James Sutherland, chief executive of Cricket Australia, who told Telegraph Sport this week that he believes Bangladesh are driving down the quality of international cricket at a time when it is especially important to maintain high standards.
"With the growth in the Twenty20 market, it is important to take the clutter out of the game," said Sutherland. "We need to make sure we are playing cricket for quality's sake, not for quantity, and in recent times I'm not sure that the quality has always been there.
"The Bangladesh team that came here this year performed far worse than the previous team, which toured in 2003. It's a difficult balancing act, you want to help them develop, but we lost a lot of money hosting them and I don't think their presence is doing anything for the game."
Even one-day series – such as the one played in Australia in August and September – could become difficult for the Bangladesh Cricket Board to organise in the current climate. England, who are due to host two Tests against the Bangladeshis at the start of the 2010 summer, are especially keen to find some replacements who might be more commercially viable.
Bangladesh may be the seventh-most populous country in the world, but their development system has failed to produce any convincing international players for several years now. They have also been weakened by a spate of recent defections to the Indian Cricket League, including that of former captain Habibul Bashar.
Despite a late rally against Sri Lanka last week, which saw them fall only 107 runs short of a target of 521, Bangladesh's Test side are living on borrowed time.
From http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/cricket/international/bangladesh/4075107/Twenty20-threatening-Bangladesh-Test-status.html
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