CA's Big Bash killing Test cricket: Slater

Former Australian opener Michael Slater on Wednesday accused Cricket Australia of being obsessed with starting a rival tournament to compete with Indian Premier League and turning a blind eye towards the dwindling fortunes of Test cricket.

"They're killing it. They're absolutely killing off Test cricket," Slater said while raising a question mark at the scheduling of the inaugural Twenty20 Big Bash League, that starts from December 16.

"They say that they want Test cricket to survive, that it is the traditional form of the game and should be nurtured. Do you think they're nurturing it?" asked Slater.

Reacting to the withdrawal of Test hopeful Ed Cowan from the practice game against India, starting on Thursday, to play for Sydney Sixers, Slater said CA is intent on promoting the revenue raising Twenty20 Big Bash tournament at the expense of Test cricket.

"For me that attention (to Big Bash) is wrong," Slater was quoted as saying by Daily Telegraph.

Cowan will now have just one three-day game in a CA Chairman's XI side against India in Canberra from Monday to further press a claim for the Test spot.

The cramping of the T20 league alongside the Test series against India means that there will be no four-day cricket played between December 6 and February 2.