A slightly different tack for this post, but one which I feel compelled to write about! As anyone who has spent more than about ten minutes talking to me will know, I love sport. Playing, watching, reading about, talking about - it all counts. And an opportunity for a good debate about sport is always welcome.
So, this morning, as most days when I first get up, I took a quick look at the headlines on the BBC Sport website. Today, the one that caught my eye was the news that the next Cricket World Cup, to be held in Australia and New Zealand in 2015, will only feature 10 teams, not 14 like the one that has just finished.
Not a massive story, right? I mean, I agree with the majority of people worldwide that seven weeks for a world cup is definitely too long, and to shorten a tournament, then the easiest way is to cut down the amount of teams. And, let's face it, there were a number of one-sided games during this latest tournament, and in fact the one before that.
But, wait. It's not quite that simple. The ten teams that will take part in this tournament have already been decided. Yes, four years in advance. And that means no place for Ireland, who reached the Super Eights four years ago and, this time around, pulled off a sensational win over England, as well as running the West Indies, India and Bangladesh fairly close. Ireland, despite being ranked ahead of Zimbabwe now, are not considered worthy of a place in the tournament. How can this be fair? But it's okay, because for the 2019 CWC, there will be qualifying rounds prior to the tournament itself.
That's an eight year gap. Eight years during which Irish (and Canadian, Kenyan, Dutch etc) cricketers know that they have no chance in even trying to make it to a competition which is supposedly the pinnacle of limited overs cricket. The ICC claim they are committed to fifty overs cricket, and to the development of cricket in the 96 associate nations, yet this step seems to be a complete contradiction. Only time will, but I would not be surprised to see more and more Irish cricketers trying to declare for England as this could be their best chance of getting to play in a world cup. Or else, there could well be a dearth of interest in the fifty over game inside these associate nations, and perhaps even more of a focus on Twenty20 cricket, where at least they are allowed to compete. All this, coming on the back of an exciting, often enthralling tournament that brought public attention back on fifty over cricket. Jonathan Agnew, for example, in his column on the BBC website, said that "The Cup showed the 50-over game is the best one-day format". He should have added: “If you're one of the ten test playing nations, that is.”
What's the solution then? I don't claim to have all the answers. All I know is that, at the end of the day, sport is a competition. You want a contest. You should not have a tournament where the participants are decided four years in advance, essentially down to the fact that they are better established in world cricket. They aren't even the best ten teams in the world according to the ICC's somewhat dubious ranking criteria. Selecting the top ten ranked teams has its merits, and can be defended, but not four years in advance. But even that appears to have gone too far for the ICC and the status quo of the older cricket playing nations has been preserved for at least the next four years. No one wants to risk embarrassment at the hands of a team who does not even play test matches...But surely, if you have a genuine interest in the game of cricket, then you should want to develop across the globe and rid itself somewhat of the image of the "colonial, elitist game" and attract new fans and participants – outside the traditional strongholds of the game.
I couldn't agree more!
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