Former South African captain and head of the new domestic T20 league in the country Graeme Smith believes Test cricket may be limited to five or six nations in the future.
While Smith refused to comment on whether South Africa would drop back on its Test cricket commitments, the number of T20 leagues popping up around the world continues to skew and distort the focus of the sport at the global level.
South Africa themselves are currently locked in a series with England, however, they are set to play more two-match series rather than three-match series during their future tours programme, acting as an overall reduction in Test cricket for the Proteas.
"With Test cricket, it's just iconic nations or the big cricketing nations that are contributing to Test cricket at the moment," Smith said.
"I think it's fantastic especially under Virat Kohli that India really took Test cricket seriously. They lead the way with that. But as long as we've got competitive teams, you're not going to have 10, 11, 12, 13 or 14 competitive teams. You might only be down to five or six nations that play Test cricket at this level."
While the South Africans themselves are prioritising their own domestic competition - with the country pulling out of an ODI series against Australia in January - it is believed the competition will be what floats South African cricket financially in years to come.
All teams are backed by owners of IPL teams, as is the case with the ILT20 competition, to be held in January as well out of the United Arab Emirates.
The BBL and Bangladesh Premier League are also played at that time of year, creating a jam-packed calendar.
Despite the fact Smith believes Test cricket will continue to shrink, the South African Cricketers Association doesn't share the same view.
"We are disappointed with the lack of Test cricket. For youngsters, it's the optimum test of your cricket ability," Andrew Breetze, SACA CEO told ESPNcricinfo.
"With fewer Tests being played and more two-Test series, Test cricket is being diluted. If you look at what FICA and SACA have been saying for the last five years, we said that the ICC should take ownership of this by looking at how we balance bilateral cricket with T20 events and if they don't do that we are going to see Test cricket being diminished by the non-big three. We are there. And that's disappointing."
