I think part of the problem is the big teams would have to host the smaller teams at some stage. They are struggling to make money out of test cricket as it is. I don't know what the fix is because more big matches are needed, but they only way to do that is to get more countries involved.
But how many countries would get permission to play in the boxing day test here? Sri Lanka got beaten here last time in 2.5 days. They havent played a test in Melbourne since.
Their was a article on CricInfo 12-18 months about Zimbabwe and how they lost a fortune on every Test they actually got at home , and were basically looking at just playing away tests.
Problem is with out home tests not many others are inviting them for tours due to the TV revenue.
Need to keep playing Tests to try and stay competitive but costs too much $$$.
NZ , SL , WI are probably in the same position unless they get Australia , England , India , South Africa touring.
Afghanistan & Ireland finally get Test status and they will probably go broke from it , and playing less cricket now than they were before when they would play Canada , Holland , KENYA , Namibia , Scotland , UAE etc etc in 4 day cricket.
Unfortunately Australia , England , India & South Africa would actually just prefer having series against each other due to the TV deals.
The other sides then "vote" with India in the hope they might get a token series against them every now and again.
Because the ICC don't actually schedule series between all countries equally & fairly , counties can essentially choose who & when they want to play without any penalty , eg Australia cancelling Bangladesh series regularly.
I would like us to use the winter months more and schedule Tests in Cairns & Darwin against Afghanistan , Bangladesh , Ireland , Pakistan , Zimbabwe etc etc.
Probably not worth any $$$ to CA though so they can't be bothered.
Somehow their needs to be a incentive from the ICC to actually make sure these series happen.
