The ICC Cricket Committee has recommended that Full Member nations be required to play a minimum number of Tests over a four-year period in what is being presented as the latest attempt to protect the status of the five-day game.

ESPNcricinfo understands that the number proposed by the committee, which was meeting for the first time since the controversial election of Laxman Sivaramakrishnan as a player representative in place of Tim May, is merely a minimum four Tests each year which would mean at least 16 over a four-year cycle.

There have been a number of recent examples of Test series being postponed due to conflicting demands, either from one-day cricket or the proliferation of Twenty20 leagues.

If a four-year period is taken from September 2009 to September 2013 - using current fixtures - England will have played the most Test matches with 49 while, of the leading eight nations, New Zealand and West Indies will have had 31 apiece. Bangladesh sit at 18 with Zimbabwe languishing on eight due to their self-imposed exile from the format which ended in 2011.

However, the squeeze on Tests has intensified over the last couple of years to the extent where the future of Test cricket in some countries is increasingly questioned.

Last September, the Sri Lanka and West Indies boards mutually decided to shelve the two-Test series scheduled for this May and instead play a tri-series involving India. Originally Sri Lanka were scheduled to play two Tests, three ODIs and two Twenty20s as per the Future Tours Programme (FTP).

West Indies will play no further Tests this home season (they hosted Zimbabwe for two) after Pakistan's tour in July was also stripped to include just five ODIs and two Twenty20s but not the two proposed Tests.

In August, the inaugural Caribbean Premier League begins while Pakistan have tentative plans to play India and Zimbabwe although there are doubts over both. Depending on whether West Indies' Tests in New Zealand are pencilled in for December this year or January 2014, they may just play two Tests in 2013.

South Africa were also due to undertake a full tour of Sri Lanka in July and August but that has now been trimmed to ODIs and Twenty20s. That change was, officially, largely because of Sri Lanka taking part in the one-day tri-series in the Caribbean but the Sri Lanka Premier League is also due to take place in August.

The sensation of a creep away from Test cricket has been impossible to overlook.

An ICC statement said: "The ICC Cricket Committee reiterated its support for the strategy of ensuring an optimum balance and a clear differentiation between the three formats of the game, and noted the need to ensure that Test cricket, in particular, was protected.

"Noting the examples during the year where Test matches had been postponed to make room for other formats of the game, the committee recommended that all Test playing members should be required to play a minimum number of Test matches over a four-year period in order to maintain their Test status."

Away from Test cricket during the two-day meeting at Lord's the committee also raised concerns about the impact of the new ODI playing regulations on spin bowlers. One fewer fielder is now allowed outside the circle in non-Powerplay overs, there are two new balls used during the innings and bowlers can send down two bouncers per over.

Although the committee acknowledged the new regulations are "producing a more attacking game" they believe more analysis is needed before determining whether they should be extended to include the 2015 World Cup.