SYDNEY, Dec 22 (Reuters) - New Zealand’s highly respected captain Stephen Fleming is not prone to making rash statements so when he predicted Australia’s domination of test cricket would start sending tremors around the world he was not being flippant.

Fleming spoke with conviction, his team having just been crushed in successive tests, and his gloomy forecast was quickly proved right.

A fortnight later, Ricky Ponting’s all-conquering team destroyed Pakistan by 491 runs and this time even the Australians felt the shockwaves.

The magnitude of their victory immediately raised concerns about the state of test cricket and the widening gap between Australia and the rest.

Australia have lost just one of 20 test series. They haven’t lost a series at home in 12 years and have beaten every country away on their last visit, including India. If that wasn’t enough, they have also excelled in the one-day game, winning the past two World Cups.

Their performances over the past decade have been nothing short of remarkable but their superiority has come at a price. Attendances have been steadily declining and interest in the game is starting to wane.

The prospects of a change seem remote, at least in the short term. Australia hold a commanding lead in the world rankings for both test and one-day cricket.

Their nearest opponents in test cricket are England. The English haven’t beaten Australia in a series since 1986 and when they last met two years ago, Australia wrapped up the Ashes in just 11 days.

It’s little wonder the International Cricket Council has arranged a series between Australia and the rest of the world next year.

Australia coach John Buchanan says he is concerned by the trend but dismissed the notion his team’s domination was bad for the game.

"It’s up to the other teams and the International Cricket Council to work out ways and means to accelerate their progress," Buchanan told reporters in Perth this week.

"While people might say it isn’t healthy, I think it is. It’s important because that sets a new standard — they’re the new benchmark — that’s what everybody wants to be."

Ominously, Buchanan said the Australians were determined to keep on improving, predicting their best was yet to come.

"Our job is not to mark time, tread water and wait for other teams to look at what we’re doing and catch up," he said.

"If all we did was keep doing what we’re doing, then we’re doing a disservice to the game and certainly a disservice to Australian cricket.

"Our job is to keep improving, individually and collectively, and I always believe we can."

Not everyone in Australia agrees. Former test skipper Greg Chappell says he is alarmed by the widening gap and wants Australia to actively help the rest of the world catch up.

"The game is in serious trouble," Chappell warned. "I know some administrators are very concerned about it and some are sitting back rather complacent about it.

"Australia has a good track record in developing the game, but we can’t assume that we can just look after our house and not look after everyone else."

The biggest threat to Australia’s domination is likely to come in the next few years when players such as Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath retire.

The transition was seamless after the departures of Steve and Mark Waugh and Mark Taylor but Warne and McGrath, in contrast, are all-time great bowlers.

The rest of the world will have to hope that they prove less easy to replace.

Australia’s current domination of world cricket can be traced back to the 1980s when West Indies were the driving force.

But unlike their rivals, the Australians learnt their lessons from defeat and had the resources to do something about it, developing academies of excellence and specialist coaches to ensure they have a steady stream of talent ready to take over.