MELBOURNE, May 22: Australia will consider pushing for Zimbabwe to be stripped of Test status at next month's International Cricket Council (ICC) meeting.

"It's over a month away right now and that gives the Zimbabwe Cricket Union (ZCU) a chance to resolve some of their differences with their players," Cricket Australia (CA) chief executive James Sutherland told a news conference on Saturday.

"I think that (the Test status of Zimbabwe) is a question that has probably come on to the table and is higher on the agenda now than it has ever been before."

Asked whether CA would lead a push to strip Zimbabwe of Test status, Sutherland said: "We'll obviously make a judgement a lot closer to the time.

"But there is no doubt that Cricket Australia and a number of other full member countries are concerned about how things have developed in recent weeks."

Zimbabwe's two-Test home series against Australia, the world's top-ranked team, was called off on Friday, 24 hours before it was due to start.

In an unprecedented move, the ZCU and CA agreed at a meeting in Harare to postpone the matches. Because of Australia's tight schedule, the games are highly unlikely to be played for at least four years.

Zimbabwe would have had to field a severely weakened team due to a festering dispute which has left the selectors without 15 experienced white players, including ex-captain Heath Streak.

However, three One-day Internationals, originally set for June, are being brought forward to May 25, 27 and 29. All will be played in Harare.

The joint decision to call off the Tests came two hours before an ICC teleconference which looked likely to strip the series of its Test status. The teleconference was swiftly abandoned.

"One can't predict but one would assume that a Zimbabwe Second XI or Third XI playing against the best team in the world would not have been a pretty contest," Sutherland said.

"It's well known that the ICC have commenced a review of the structure of international cricket."

Sutherland said CA supported the ICC's review.

"The circumstances around this (deferred tour) are no good for the game of cricket. The game is not worthy of this kind of speculation and uncertainty," Sutherland said.

"There are certainly concerns about the standard of their team at the moment and that's something the ICC will address at their June meeting."

Meanwhile, Players chief Richard Bevan criticised Australia's decision to call off their Test tour of Zimbabwe, saying it had prevented the struggling African nation from being banned from all international cricket.

Bevan, joint chief executive of players' union the Federation of International Cricketers Associations, told reporters on Friday: "If the 15 guys sacked don't go back to work, Test match status will be in jeopardy and future revenues will be in jeopardy.

"You would have thought that would have encouraged the ZCU to come back to the players," said Bevan, also the chief executive of England's Professional Cricketers' Association.

However, he added that Cricket Australia chairman Bob Merriman's decision to agree to call off the Test tour, but proceed with three one-dayers next week, had stymied hopes of a definitive resolution to the crisis.

"Effectively, Bob Merriman negotiating with the ZCU, coming to this conclusion, has robbed us all of the Zimbabwe cricket position, being put to a vote. If it had gone to a vote, you would have probably seen the one-dayers and the Test matches removed."-Agencies