The International Cricket Council's cricket committee backed the introduction of a Test competition - much mooted to provide new context, as Twenty20 gathers ever more popularity - and an Olympic future for the sport's sprint format.
During its annual meeting in London this week, the committee also recommended the adoption - already added to the MCC's Laws of Cricket earlier this year - of a red-card system available to umpires in response to extreme incidents of player misconduct.
As long as that measure is agreed by the ICC's chief executives' committee next month, it will come into being as part of the world governing body's new playing conditions from October 1.
An ICC press released detailed the outcomes of the two-day meeting of a committee chaired by India coach Anil Kumble and containing, among other high-profile members, his former Test team-mate Rahul Dravid, Sri Lanka great Mahela Jayawardene, Australia's Darren Lehmann and England and Wales Cricket Board director Andrew Strauss.
The statement read: "The committee expressed unanimous support for the implementation of a Test cricket competition, deeming that context is crucial to the future of international cricket.
"It also reiterated its full support for cricket being involved in the Olympic Games."
The committee will also recommend the decision review system be used in all Twenty20 internationals and that no review is lost in future by any team if the technology points to 'umpire's call' rather than outright evidence that an original lbw decision was unequivocally correct.
If DRS policy is updated on those lines, however, the recommendation will be that two review options are no longer reinstated after 80 overs of a Test innings.
Kumble said: "We have had a wonderful couple of days discussing cricket issues, and there are a number of highlights.
"The first is around the structure of international cricket, and the committee unanimously recommended that context in the international game is paramount - and we welcome the new structure [for a Test championship]."
