It takes something special to unify in anger such different nations as Afghanistan and Ireland, Singapore and Canada, and Nepal and Scotland. That, though, is what cricket’s rulers have achieved by their decision to exclude everybody apart from the 10 test-playing nations from the 2015 World Cup.
The decision was announced within 48 hours of the conclusion of the 2011 World Cup. If it was hoped that opposition would be muted amid the euphoria of India’s success and widespread satisfaction over the Cup itself — by general consent, it was the best of the 10 so far — that tactic has backfired. Instead, the backlash from those excluded is still gaining strength more than a week later.
“This is a kick in the teeth for all associate members,” said John Cribbin, honorary secretary of the Hong Kong Cricket Association, which fields its own team, separate from China, in international sports. The H.K.C.A.’s team is currently playing in the World Cricket League division two, a six-team tournament in the United Arab Emirates. The top four finishers in that competition were supposed to earn places in the qualifying tournament for the next Cricket World Cup, but not anymore after the decision by the International Cricket Council.
Anger has spread well beyond those countries with a realistic hope of qualifying for the 2015 tournament. Warren Deutrom, chief executive of Cricket Ireland, cited a message he has received from a nation much lower in the game’s pecking order.
“It said that ‘We all feel disenfranchised. While we are a long way from having a chance to qualify, the dream that it might one day be a possibility is very important to us, and taking it away is extremely damaging.”’
One country came close to making that unlikely dream a reality in the qualifiers for 2011. Afghanistan worked its way up from the fifth division of the World League, winning a series of promotions before falling just one place short of the four qualifying berths in the tournament this year.
“A lot of legal experts have been in touch to tell me that we would have a strong legal case against the International Cricket Council,” Deutrom said by telephone this week. But he said that suing the game’s governing body would be a last, not first, resort.
“We don’t want to go down that route unless we have to,” he said. “We want to seek recourse within the I.C.C.’s structures and are examining its constitution and articles of association to see what forms of recourse are open to us.”
Ireland, which has posted strong performances as a qualifier in the last two World Cups — eliminating Pakistan in 2007 and beating England this year, when it was highly competitive against test nations throughout the tournament — has been the example cited in most comments criticizing the decision, and it is among the driving forces behind the protests. “I don’t think I’ve seen any statement in favor of this decision,” Deutrom said.
Deutrom has been working with other leaders among the 95 non-test members of the I.C.C. “Our aim is to develop a consensus, and that seems to be coming together very fast,” he said.
Critics have included Malcolm Speed, the former chief of the I.C.C., who told the ESPN Cricinfo Web site, “The decision strikes me as an insular, parochial decision that just perpetuates the 10 full-member countries.”
Deutrom argued that it changes the nature of the competition. “Can you really call it a World Cup any more? If there is no qualifying competition, it is really an invitation tournament. I can’t think of any other sport which operates its world championship in this way.”
Every World Cup since the second, in 1979, has been preceded by qualifiers for non-test nations. The first qualifying tournament was won by Sri Lanka, which by 1996 was world champion and has been runner-up in the last two World Cups.
The decision runs in the face of one of the I.C.C.’s genuine successes, using the world league system to create pathway for non-test nations to raise their standards — a policy reaffirmed in group’s strategic plan for 2011-15, which was endorsed at the same meeting last week that decided to exclude the non-test nations.
The I.C.C. has attempted to sweeten its decision by extending the World Twenty20, scheduled to be held every two years, so that six non-test nations will qualify, but Deutrom sees this as inadequate compensation.
“It ignores the extent to which the leading associates regard the 50 over game as their main focus, followed by four-day matches and with Twenty20 only third,” he said. “Dave Richardson, the I.C.C.’s cricket director, has told us that we should be playing all three forms. Now we’re told that we should concentrate completely on the least of the three
The decision was announced within 48 hours of the conclusion of the 2011 World Cup. If it was hoped that opposition would be muted amid the euphoria of India’s success and widespread satisfaction over the Cup itself — by general consent, it was the best of the 10 so far — that tactic has backfired. Instead, the backlash from those excluded is still gaining strength more than a week later.
“This is a kick in the teeth for all associate members,” said John Cribbin, honorary secretary of the Hong Kong Cricket Association, which fields its own team, separate from China, in international sports. The H.K.C.A.’s team is currently playing in the World Cricket League division two, a six-team tournament in the United Arab Emirates. The top four finishers in that competition were supposed to earn places in the qualifying tournament for the next Cricket World Cup, but not anymore after the decision by the International Cricket Council.
Anger has spread well beyond those countries with a realistic hope of qualifying for the 2015 tournament. Warren Deutrom, chief executive of Cricket Ireland, cited a message he has received from a nation much lower in the game’s pecking order.
“It said that ‘We all feel disenfranchised. While we are a long way from having a chance to qualify, the dream that it might one day be a possibility is very important to us, and taking it away is extremely damaging.”’
One country came close to making that unlikely dream a reality in the qualifiers for 2011. Afghanistan worked its way up from the fifth division of the World League, winning a series of promotions before falling just one place short of the four qualifying berths in the tournament this year.
“A lot of legal experts have been in touch to tell me that we would have a strong legal case against the International Cricket Council,” Deutrom said by telephone this week. But he said that suing the game’s governing body would be a last, not first, resort.
“We don’t want to go down that route unless we have to,” he said. “We want to seek recourse within the I.C.C.’s structures and are examining its constitution and articles of association to see what forms of recourse are open to us.”
Ireland, which has posted strong performances as a qualifier in the last two World Cups — eliminating Pakistan in 2007 and beating England this year, when it was highly competitive against test nations throughout the tournament — has been the example cited in most comments criticizing the decision, and it is among the driving forces behind the protests. “I don’t think I’ve seen any statement in favor of this decision,” Deutrom said.
Deutrom has been working with other leaders among the 95 non-test members of the I.C.C. “Our aim is to develop a consensus, and that seems to be coming together very fast,” he said.
Critics have included Malcolm Speed, the former chief of the I.C.C., who told the ESPN Cricinfo Web site, “The decision strikes me as an insular, parochial decision that just perpetuates the 10 full-member countries.”
Deutrom argued that it changes the nature of the competition. “Can you really call it a World Cup any more? If there is no qualifying competition, it is really an invitation tournament. I can’t think of any other sport which operates its world championship in this way.”
Every World Cup since the second, in 1979, has been preceded by qualifiers for non-test nations. The first qualifying tournament was won by Sri Lanka, which by 1996 was world champion and has been runner-up in the last two World Cups.
The decision runs in the face of one of the I.C.C.’s genuine successes, using the world league system to create pathway for non-test nations to raise their standards — a policy reaffirmed in group’s strategic plan for 2011-15, which was endorsed at the same meeting last week that decided to exclude the non-test nations.
The I.C.C. has attempted to sweeten its decision by extending the World Twenty20, scheduled to be held every two years, so that six non-test nations will qualify, but Deutrom sees this as inadequate compensation.
“It ignores the extent to which the leading associates regard the 50 over game as their main focus, followed by four-day matches and with Twenty20 only third,” he said. “Dave Richardson, the I.C.C.’s cricket director, has told us that we should be playing all three forms. Now we’re told that we should concentrate completely on the least of the three
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