Test Status is a status that is conferred upon a country by the ICC, the International Cricket Council. Countries that do not have Test Status can only officially play a shortened version of Cricket.
The cricketing countries that have test status are (in alphabetical order): Australia, Bangladesh, England, India, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka, West Indies and Zimbabwe. In 2004, Zimbabwe were temporarily removed from the test-playing fraternity due to the loss of many of its top players who fled due to the dictatorship of Robert Mugabe.
In 2003, the ICC announced its intention to confer test status upon Kenya in the near future.
