 Australian captain Ricky Ponting has supported the ICC decision to reduce the number of teams for the ICC World Cup from its next edition. According to Ponting, it does make sense for the ICC to have a World Cup with only the top ten teams.
The decision to go ahead with a World Cup with only ten teams was taken by
the ICC only a week back. The decision has come in for a lot of condemning from
the Associates countries after they thought that by doing this, the ICC will
only be reducing the chances of these minnow nations to play at the international
stage. The ICC had made up for the reduction in the number of countries in the
World Cup by having 16 teams for the ICC World T20 instead, a decision which
has, hardly, gone down well with the sides.
Countries like Ireland, Kenya, Netherlands and Canada have not take the decision
too well and complained that by playing in the World Cup was one of the main
ways that they could learn at the highest level. Even the Test-playing nation
cricketers like Graeme Swann, AB de Villiers and Shaun Tait have
not been too happy with the decision.
However, Ponting has said that he thought that he did not think that the minnow
nations learnt anything from successive defeats of the nature that the likes
of Kenya and Canada had done on the second day of the World Cup. Kenya were
bowled out for 69 against New Zealand whereas Canada went down by 210
runs to Sri Lanka in the second game.
Ponting added that the tournaments of the likes of World Cup and Champions
Trophies were hardly places where these teams needed to ply their wares to begin
with. Ponting also pointed out that the World Cup would be a much better tournament
had the number of teams been less.
The ICC has not yet decided on how they would look to choose which of the teams
will make it to the World Cup. however, in all probability most of the top Test
playing nations should get a direct entry into the tournament, with a qualifier
to probably decide on one or two of the other slots.
The Dutch coach, Peter Drinnen said that the minnow nations will now
need surprise a couple of the bigger countries like how Netherlands had done
in the World T20 of 2009.
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