2015 World Cup back to 14 nation event

Reading the web traffic on Cricinfo and the responses of the Irish and Dutch boards in praise of the recent decisions concerning the World cups and Associates has left me a bit baffled. The 2015 decision is barely sugarcoating the fact that the Associates are going to be worse off than before. What's the reasoning given for the reduction of teams in the T20, and why is the 2019 WC still a 10 team tournament? It's pretty clear that in the long run the ICC (or the Full Member nations) want minimal Associate involvement in what they perceive as the elite competitions. There's been plenty of speculation that the Associates' votes would be bought - a 14-team 2015 WC in exchange for a vote to scrap rotational presidency. I hope it's not the case because overall the Associates are getting a pretty bad deal. (I've just read that the presidency decision has been deferred til October)

Brett, exactly. The more I think about it, the more confusing it gets. The WT20 is low cost to run, and even mismatches are no great issue for spectators. It is the competition you'd think about over-stretching in: 24 teams would be possible, 20 for sure. Instead, 12? Just 2 entries for 95 nations currently trying to qualify? Those aren't the kind of odds that will inspire young associate cricketers. Just on that, I'm sick of seeing ex-Australian cricketers - Ponting, Martyn, Hayden - go on about elite competition and excluding associates. Would they say the same if they'd been born in Namibia, Ireland or Canada? No, it would be gross loss to the game of great talent. There are 600,000 cricketers in associate nations now, more than Australia and NZ combined. Many of them are worthy of a world stage even if their team-mates struggle to keep up.

True - FIFA have found that knock-out games are the most exciting (often) and if someone important is eliminated then it's called a terrific upset!

Ben, that's not quite what I meant, though it is a good point. Ireland vs Netherlands was pretty meaningless, because neither could make the quarter-finals when it was played. Most of the games had very little bearing on the q/f, not because they were mismatched, but because a team could lose 3 times and still get through. A 10 team WC is worse again, from that perspective. Knockouts are what makes a cup interesting, and a game meaningful, but the ICC is petrified of them, in case they knock out someone important.

As others above have stated, 14 is better than 10, but a shorter 16 team with pool play version would have been better.

Well said Russ - it ain't gonna be meaningless for the Dutch and Irish and so on who've just spent a great deal of time trying to get the ICC's 10-team decision overturned...

Ben, Russ, it just seems absurd to me that the ICC claim T20 is the way to grow cricket around the world, and is the cash cow flavour of the month globally (and preferred over Tests, evidently) yet they will still essentially restrict the short game to the Test nations?!? To me, it's like claiming to have come up with the most fuel-efficient car in the world, have its demand confirmed by all countries, and then decide while it's in production to put a 7 litre V8 in it!!

Chris, define "meaningless game". I guarantee you the proposed 10 team format would have had more of them, is more drawn out, and has just as many mismatches against weak sides.

Hi Russ - agree that a claim about cutting the matches down was simply blah in the end if 14 is acceptable. Again, as I've mentioned before, maybe (just maybe) 12 teams (2 groups of six) would have struck the right competitive balance, with a 16-team T20 tournament as the extra carrot as it were. But, 14 it is for 2015 - let's enjoy it and cheer on the Associates in the hope for better things again in discussions pre-2019...

Ed, the ICC might claim they were trying to cut down the number of matches and the length, but it is a bald-faced lie given neither the reduction from 16 to 14, nor the mooted reduction from 14 to 10 would do either. It was about getting more high-rating fixtures and therefore more money. Even though those same fixtures are played dozens of times in the 4 years between world cups. I'm not impressed with this decision. The 14 team format is a poor one that offers little chance for low ranked sides to progress to the next round, takes too long, and (notwithstanding England's efforts to make it interesting earlier this year) is something of a procession. And it applies to one world cup only, whence they'll regress to a 10 team cup. Unique among sports in reducing participation at marquee events. And finally they've reduced the WT20 to 12 teams for unfathomable reasons half-way through qualifying, even though that was being projected as means of growth in smaller countries. That competition should rightly be 20 teams, giving the associates and affiliates (all 95 of them) some chance of making an impression on the global stage. Instead the ICC insists on myopic elitism. The plan to have no qualifying at all was a disgrace, but this decision is only a good one, by comparison.

Hi Ed - essentially a "hurrah!" for 2015. Wouldn't have cared if it's 12 or 14 teams... I will buy tickets where possible, especially to see the likes of IRE/HOL if they come to Melb/Adel... But 10 teams in 2019 with the qualifying idea proposed for 2015? DUMB AS!!!! Then as Brett says, trim the T20 World Cup from 16 to 12 is utterly daft... Still, there's another four years for the best 3-4 Associates to prove that a lobbying campaign will be required again come 2017.....!!!!!

I'm glad they've seen the light for the World Cups (though like Chris above, I do wonder about 14 teams), but why then would they trim the T20WCs from 16 teams to 12, when it's supposedly the format to take to the world, and where boilovers and upsets are more likely?!?

What a joke the ICC is. One minute it makes a courageous and correct decision to limit the number of teams at the World Cup and then buckles under a modicum of pressure. So yet again we will have a long,drawn out tournament full of meaningless games involving minnow teams played in front of tiny crowds. The World Cup should be the showcase cricketing event - the best of the best. Instead it seems to be a junket for everyone who has ever picked up a cricket bat...