The latest decision made by the ICC has to be seen as one of the most damaging decision’s on the game of cricket.
The ICC is the governing body that runs cricket and should look after it and make sure competition is strong and continues to grow. By cutting the 50-over World Cup to ten teams shows that the people who run the game have no idea.
The 50-over World Cup has promoted countries to Test status. Look at Bangladesh, who were handed Test status due to their performance at the 1999 World Cup.
In 2003, Kenya made it the semi finals, while Ireland made the top eight in 2007. In the two previous World Cups, the majority of the Test teams have been that poor in the their results that the ICC should question their involvement!
So now the growth of game, with teams on the second-tier like Canada, Holland, Ireland, Scotland and Afghanistan, will go missing. It doesn’t make sense.
Now the only way you can contest the 50-over World Cup is to be a Test nation. How is Twenty20 cricket going to grow the game seriously?
The whole World Cup process should be in question. The World Cup was so badly organised, bad pitches, no crowds and a farcical finish to the final. So that meant for the ICC to make their money back they awarded the next World Cup to the sub-continent instead of Australia/New Zealand.
Already this World Cup has trouble as not all venues will have the referral system in place, which should be mandatory in every game at this level.
Timmuh
Guest
On face value, I agree entirely that this is a backward decision. Every WC, except 1983, has had at least one non-Test nation involved. If Zimbabwe regain Test status, this will no longer hold true. In 1975 Sri Lanka and East Africa, in 1979 Canada and Sri Lanka who gained Test status just before the 1983 WC. In 1983 Zimbabwe beat Australia. In 1987 and 1992 Zimbabwe who gained Test status shortly after the 1992 WC after knocking England over. Kenya skittled the West Indies in 1996 as the Cup got bigger, and went on to make a bigger impact in the African WC - on performance alone they probably should have been promoted to Test status ahead of Bangladesh, but the low playing pool and some politics put paid to that. The UAE and Netherlands also played 1996. Perhaps the Cup did get to big after that, but with 9 (or 10 depending on Zimbabwe's fate) Test nations at least keeping a 12 team Cup seems the bare minimum requirement. But the decision has been made. The question now is what, if anything, will the ICC do to ensure that the leading Associate nations can climb the ranks to becoming full members. How will the nations that need it get exposure to teams in the top flight. Maybe regular series can be held between the leading associates and the low end of the ODI rankings, or some other method might be worked out. If such games are regular enough, it may actually end up speeding up the path. But, the ICC seem focussed on the short term money, and that would mean locking out the next tier of nations.
Hooplah
Guest
Disagree 200 %!!! The World Cup has become a joke since the 1992 edition we staged here with only 8 teams. It should be rolled back to 8 again, with the intervening years acting as qualifiers with all teams playing home and against say the top 12 nations. It is a dud tournament with all the easy matches. Good move ICC!
andy g
Guest
they cant win tho, can they? they put them in and we rag them for one sided matches. they ditch them an they arent giving them a chance... whats the medium? -- Comment left via The Roar's iPhone app. Download The Roar's iPhone App in the App Store here.
Jammy
Guest
This is not good news. The development of Afghanistan has been one of the few bright spots for cricket in the last few years, closing the opportunity for them to play in a world cup could seriously undermine their progress. Ireland too have been impressive. In saying that the 50 over game does need a revamp, but why not go from 14 to 12 teams rather than 10?