Talk about a rollercoaster ride. First, the ICC Annual Conference back-tracks and sanctions another 14-nation World Cup in 2015 and then changes the rules for the World Twenty20 tournaments while the qualification competition is already underway, reducing the number of non-Test playing nations from six to two!
I must say that I was delighted with the Hong Kong delegates' decision to allow Associates to participate in the next global 50-over event. I have written before about the importance to the promotion of cricket of seeing the likes of Ireland, Netherlands, Kenya and Canada line up against the big guns. It doesn't matter if they are beaten in most games they play; as long as they can create some scares and genuine upsets, as the Dutch and Irish inflicted on England last winter, then they are worth their place. In Australia, it is possible that Afghanistan will earn a place in the finals, which should give a huge boost to that war-torn country. That should outweigh any moans about lack of sponsorship earning potential from Cricket Australia.
I do worry that a 14-nation World Cup will end up with at least as many fixtures as we had last time, but how you avoid having two groups of seven, I don't know. The subsequent move to punish the Associates for the temerity to challenge on the 2015 World Cup ruling by denying all but two to compete in the T20 competition is pathetic. I would have preferred to see a 12-team World Cup and 14-team T20 event but the ICC has succeeded only in causing even more friction, demonstrating lack of sensitivity and placing cash deals before showing the world how good a sport cricket can be. But I suppose that is the way of most major team sports these days. The rich get richer and the poor go to the wall.
It took Sri Lanka's World Cup win in 1996 to prove to the authorities and public they could be a force in world cricket and I'd love to see one of the minnows outplaying the big fish in at least one of the competitions just to prove the ICC wrong. Kevin O'Brien or Ryan Ten Doeschate smashing the winning six off Lasith Malinga or Dale Steyn? Why not?! At least they could now have the opportunity and for that I give thanks, but the ICC really should get their act together before they lose what credibility hey have left.
