By Gurmukh Singh, IANS
Toronto : The associate members of the International Cricket Council (ICC) have opposed moves by India and Pakistan to reduce the number of teams at the next World Cup in 2011.
Since their elimination from the 2007 World Cup, the Asian cricketing giants have reportedly been pressuring the ICC to have 14, instead of proposed 16, teams at the next World Cup.
As ten full members cannot be shut out, the axe will fall on any two of the six associate members.
India and Pakistan may argue that reduction in teams will shorten the duration of the tournament, but what they actually want is reduce chances of their elimination at the preliminary rounds.
To ensure this, they have suggested only two groups of 14 teams, instead of the current four groups of four teams each.
While India was eliminated by Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, Pakistan made their exit after losing to the West Indies and Ireland in the last World Cup. The two have the backing of two other full ICC members from the sub-continent – Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.
But in a strongly worded letter to ICC CEO Malcolm Speed, eight associate members – Canada, Ireland, Kenya, Holland, Bermuda, Scotland, United Arab Emirates, Namibia, Denmark and Oman – have countered the proposal, saying it is aimed at reducing their representation at the next World Cup.
“This plan (mooted by India and Pakistan) would mean that only four top associates, instead of the previous six, would now qualify to participate in that event. We wish to record our objections to this proposal in the strongest possible terms,” they said.
“We would regard such a step as perverse and unwarranted. It would be wholly contrary to the best interests of cricket and to the spirit of the game and (its) globalisation.”
They argued that any moves to shut them out of the World Cup would be against the ICC mission to make cricket a “leading global sport”.
Thanks to the ICC’s High Performance Programme (HPP), they said, cricketing standards have improved in top associate members, leading to inclusion of six of them in the last World Cup.
“These decisions (to include associate members in the World Cup) were taken by the ICC to reflect the success of the game’s global footprint. What has changed so radically between then and now to justify a reduction in the number of participating teams?” they asked.
On the contrary, they said, they should have more representation at the next World Cup, as their cricketing standards would improve further thanks to ICC investments.
They said early elimination of some full members might mean loss of revenue to their boards and “loss of face” for them. But “this cannot be something that the ICC should condone.”
Canadian Cricket Association CEO Atul Ahuja told IANS: “India was leading the bid to spoil the show for us. It is ridiculous when they (India and Pakistan) argue that they were eliminated from the World Cup because of `one bad day’ during the preliminary rounds.
“It was a case of more than one bad day. India and Pakistan each lost two consecutive matches. Mind you, they were not eliminated by the minnows. If India lost to Bangladesh, it also lost to Sri Lanka. If Pakistan lost to Ireland, it also lost to the West Indies.”
Ahuja said this proposal was nothing but an arm-twisting by a board (India) eager to flex its economic muscle.
“India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka should not forget that nobody at the ICC cared about them a decade or so ago. Now they want to create their own power block. They should not forget their past, they should show humility and let us develop our cricket,” he said.
Taking a dig at Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) chief Sharad Pawar and Co., Ahuja said: “By opposing an associate member like Canada, the BCCI is stabbing the Indian diaspora because eighty percent of our cricketers are of Indian or South Asian backgrounds.”