Cricket: England's Ashes thumping could put World Test Championship in jeopardy

England's Alastair Cook, right, shakes hands with Australia's Mitchell Johnson, left, after Australia defeated England. Photo / Getty Images

England's slump in form could threaten the ICC World Test Championship due to be staged in 2017.

The International Cricket Council launched the test championship in October, with Dave Richardson, the chief executive, saying it would "preserve the primacy of tests".

The first competition is scheduled to be held in England with a prize pool of around 5 million ($10 million) and is due to be part of the ICC's offering to broadcasters next year when it begins formally to negotiate an eight-year rights deal to run from 2016-2023.

But it is understood initial talks with broadcasters have revealed little appetite for the competition, which is due to replace the Champions Trophy one-day tournament.

The ICC's finance and commercial affairs committee met in Perth last week and is in the process of conducting a financial study into the viability of a test championship as opposed to the Champions Trophy.

The ICC is hoping to raise around 610 million from its next television deal, a sum that will finance cricket around the world. But broadcasters have indicated two key problems with the test championship.

First, there is no guarantee England and India will qualify for the tournament, which will be contested by the top four ranked nations. If England lose 4-0 to Australia, they will drop to fourth in the ICC table, holding only a slender lead over Pakistan. Broadcasters do not want to risk financing a competition that could lack the two biggest nations in terms of generating advertising revenue. While it is unlikely both England and India would miss out, broadcasters do not like uncertainty.

The second problem yet to be resolved is finding a satisfactory format for a championship while the problem of deciding a winner if the final ends in a draw has not been solved. One idea being mooted is for a six-day test, although the uncertainty would create chaos in television schedules. A round-robin style format is another idea, with teams playing each other concurrently which would guarantee most will go for a win, but this would lengthen the time it takes to play the competition.

This contrasts with the Champions Trophy which in its early years was derided as a poor cousin of the 50-over World Cup but its last two competitions have been a success.

The inaugural test championship was supposed to be held in England this year. The Champions Trophy was staged instead after broadcasters indicated they would demand a refund of around 50 million from their rights fee.

Another stumbling block is a continuing battle within the ICC over the sharing of income from global tournaments. At the moment 75 per cent is split equally between the 10 full members and 25 per cent between associate nations such as Afghanistan.

But the Indian board is pushing for change which would see revenue shares reflect the size of a nation's contribution to the overall pot. At the moment the Board of Control for Cricket in India generates around 60 per cent of the ICC's income because matches featuring India pull in the most advertising revenue. Any change could have a massive impact on smaller nations, some of whom already rely on the ICC for large handouts in order to survive.