Cricket news: Lower-ranked cricket Associates lashed CEC’s World Cup proposal
The leading associate members of International Cricket Council have criticised the Chief Executive Committee’s suggestions for a smaller 50-over World Cup. The Associates have described the plans as a glass-ceiling and believe that, if implemented, the plan
would restrict the growth of cricket in the non-Test playing countries.
Cricket Canada’s chief executive Chandra Gocool said, "The challenge will be [to see] how we break through."
The 13-member Chief Executive Committee (CEC) of ICC met in Cape Town on Tuesday and it was suggested that the 50-overs World Cup should be reduced to 10 countries from 2015 onwards whilst increasing the number of teams participating in World T20 tournament
to 16. The CEC, in addition to 10 full time members, includes three representatives from the associate countries as well. The associate members include http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Namibia-c2964.
The 2011 edition of the quadrennial tournament - to be held in subcontinent, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Sri-Lanka-c758 and Bangladesh - would feature 14 countries, including four Associates. A 10-team World Cup would no doubt make it quite tough for these associates to qualify for
the prestigious event next time.
A comparatively harder statement came from Cricket http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Kenya-c752’s chief executive Tom Sears in this regard, “Unfortunately, it seems that the ICC wants to pull up the drawbridge and not allow the Associate countries in." Sears said that cricket should be the only
game where the teams cannot qualify for the World Cup on merit.
Cricket http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Canada-c748’s chief executive Gocool revealed that the Associate members had jointly submitted a paper to the International Cricket Council on how cricket can best develop and flourish in their countries. The associate members are looking forward to a
promotion/relegation system that would persuade them to grow and compete some of the full members of CEC (Chief Executive Committee). The CEC’s proposed system, on the other hand, would force these members to concentrate on their T20 game.
According to Gocool, the lessened prospect to make the 2015 cricket world cup would discourage the non-Test playing nations as 2015 tournament was a significant motivation for them to keep on focusing on their development. “We are now faced with a glass
ceiling," said the Canadian chief executive.
Ireland is one of the most successful Associates with a strong profile in One Day International. They defeated 1992 World Champions http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 in the qualifying round of 2007 World Cup. Chief Executive Officer of the national cricket board of Ireland, Warren
Deutrom, said the T20 form of game is a good way to spread cricket across world, but it does not help team to improve its performance.
Deutrom suggested ICC to wait until next year’s World Cup to determine whether such drastic step should be taken or not.
The chief executive of Cricket Scotland, Roddy Smith, backed the plan of expanding the World T20 tournament but warned that it should not be done at the cost of 50-over World Cup tournament. Smith said that the T20 is a massive development gizmo for the
bottom-ranked Associates the top eight to ten teams have their future in 50-over ODI fixtures.
The lower-ranked Associates have got a sanguine 50-over World Cup history. Kenya famously thwarted http://www.senore.com/Cricket/West-Indies-c760 in the 1996 World Cup ruling them out for a meagre total of 93 runs. Seven years later, the underdog Kenya made it through the semi-final of 2003
World Cup defeating 1996’s World Champions Sri Lanka, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Scotland-c756 has played in the 1999 and 2007 tournaments, while Ireland will be playing their second World
Cup next year. Ireland first qualified for the World Cup in 2007.
If these lower-ranked Associates are not allowed by the ICC to participate in all formats of cricket, the game cannot grow, as they are the key supporters of the game across the world.
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