Tuesday, June 28, 2011

ICC Reverses Decision, Keeps 14-Team method for 2015 Cricket World Cup

Cricket’s ruling body reversed an earlier decision and will keep a 14-team format for the 2015 World Cup, allowing lower-ranked nations such as Ireland and the Netherlands to continue taking part.

Originally the ICC planned to cut the participants to 10 “full member” Test-playing nations, excluding the “associates” who don’t play the longer form of the game. Four lower-ranked nations will now take part after a qualifying process, the ICC announced at its annual conference in Hong Kong.


The ruling body’s original decision was made after criticism that this year’s World Cup took too long, lasting from Feb. 19 to April 2 in Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka. The ICC looked at the matter again after complaints from some national associations over the cut to 10 teams.

“The ICC executive board today reversed its previous decisions and approved a 14-team format for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 to be held in Australia and New Zealand and a 12-team format for the ICC World Twenty20 events in 2012 (Sri Lanka) and 2014 (Bangladesh),” the ICC said in a release. Originally the Twenty20 events were to include 16 teams, up from 12.

The 2011 World Cup, won by India, also had 10 full-member teams and four lower-ranked squads.

While none of the lower-ranked nations made it to the quarterfinals, Ireland had one of the biggest upsets in World Cup history. It beat England after chasing down a record victory target of 328. The other second-tier members at the tournament were Canada, Kenya and the Netherlands.

Rankings System

The 2019 World Cup will be a 10-team event, with the ICC rankings system used to determine the first eight places, the ICC said today. A qualification competition will decide the other two.

Also today, the ICC confirmed that an umpire decision review system, or DRS, with a universal standard should go into effect in Test matches and one-day Internationals, using infra- red cameras and audio-tracking devices.

India had opposed DRS because it doesn’t regard ball- tracking technology as accurate enough. It has now agreed to the common standard as the ball-tracking element won’t be included. Instead its use will need to be approved by both teams taking part
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