Dave Liverman – a commentary for Canada Cricket Online
The 2015 World Cup now looks as though it will be a World Cup in name only, after the ICC decision to restrict entry to 10 teams. They did not explicitly state that those teams will be the 10 full member nations, but the absence of an announcement of a clear qualification path causes great concern. To provide a means for the Associates or Affiliates to qualify requires the goodwill of the full members- and it seems very unlikely that Zimbabwe, Bangladesh, West Indies or even Pakistan would open themselves up to the possibility of having to fight through any qualification round. Restricting entry to the top ten (although Zimbabwe is currently actually ranked eleventh by the ICC) assures them of a tidy pay-check without the onerous responsibility of actually playing well.
All four of those full members lost to Associates at the World Cup, and in the process provided some of the most memorable moments of recent events. The ICC decision is in part a knee-jerk reaction to the negative perceptions of the last World Cup, yet for most, the most exciting moments of that ill-starred event were provided by the Irish. The only innings I can remember from the 2003 South Africa World Cup was Canada’s John Davidson’s stunning century against the West Indies (who did win that Cup anyway?). Go back even further, and recall how great performances from Sri Lanka and Zimabwe paved the way to full member status. The wonderful match between Zimabwe and India at Tunbridge Wells in 1983 had Kapil Dev’s 175 rescuing India from 17/5 – but Zimbabwe only lost by 31 runs.

The Associates have certainly been part of some lop-sided World Cup matches in the past, yet even within those encounters there are gems, such as the giant Dwayne Leverock’s amazing catch, or Dhaniram dismissing Petersen. The Associate cricketers play the game with passion and joy – while the big names of the game increasingly turn their attention to the IPL. 50 over cricket, according to the critics has become formulaic and boring- but with the Associates there, it is anything but – just ask Pakistan after they lost to Ireland
The largest sporting event in the world is the football World Cup. The FIFA rankings include 203 countries- and every one of those countries has the opportunity to qualify for the World Cup finals, and in fact win the World Cup. If cricket wants to even pretend to be a global game, rather than an elite club, then every one of the over 100 countries ranked by the ICC needs to have a clear path by which they might become world champions.
That means every cricketer in the world has the opportunity of representing their country at the very highest level of the game. It may be exceedingly unlikely that a young player in Newfoundland, Canada; in Accra Ghana; in Helsinki, Finland; in Buenos Aires, Argentina or Chang Mai, Thailand might make it to the World Cup- but if the possibility is there, then they can dream.
The 2011 World Cup is for the first time in cricket history a real World Cup – every national team in the world had the opportunity to qualify through the staged series of qualification tournaments run by the ICC. The rapid rise of Afghanistan through the ranks of Associate cricket is a vindication for this structure, and losing the possibility of reaching even further is a blow for world cricket.
The ICC needs to realize that their vision of global development is flawed, and its governance structure dominated by those whose self-interest overwhelms the good of the game. A 10 team World Cup, supplemented by a wider 20-20 tournament suits TV and the bankers, but if it removes the possibility of a glorious upset, or if they stifle the dream of a young Bradman or Tendulkar who plays their game outside of the mainstream, it is cricket that suffers.