That's my question, exactly.
A little before that.
The associate teams.Ireland. Afghanistan. Scotland. UAE.
Ireland is possibly the best associate team right now.They have had their best world cup yet. They have constantly challenged top tier teams and even came one up against them. An upset against pakistan in kingston, The miracle of chinaswamy in 2011 against England and the win over west indies in nelson in 2015.(seriously is that even an upset anymore.) decorates their history of world cups.
In this world cup they have stayed longer in contention for the top four than England and only lost to west indies who sneaked through by a better net run rate.
The reward they get for such a performance- they may not play the next world cup.
William Poterfield is a good captain. He is a sturdy if not stylish batsmen. Two of his top two scores has come against india and pakistan. I have lost count on the number of times he has vocally argued against the reduction in the number of teams in the next World Cup.
Afghanistan cricket. If american's were half as interested in cricket an Oscar-winning (steven Spielberg, maybe) documentary on the rise of this great feat would have been achieved. This has truly been a fairy tale rise. They finished second on the qualifying round to the World Cup.
Their fast bowlers would find a place in almost every full member team. Hamid hassan wears his country on his cheeks, literally. Shapoor Zadran has become a superstar in the country. Mohammed nabi is one already, featuring in afghan comic books. They have risen exponentially over the last 10 years or so. Their reward - they may not play next World cup
The Scottish cricket team was always there but not there. They have a higher probability of not being in the next world cup. Apart from a classy century from Coetzer against Bangladesh and a spirited bowling performance against New Zealand ,they have not had much good to say in this cup.
They have not yet won a single world cup match. They may never.
UAE players aren't even professional. most of them aren't even born there. Krishna" karate" Chandran played first class cricket in kerala and went to UAE is search for work. Mohammad Tauqir is an investment banker while Khurram Khan works for the emirates. They played with gusto but they just couldn't compete and stay in the competition. Most of their players will never play a world cup again.
Associate teams do bring with them the currency of unpredictability and possibility of an upset. Afghanistan nearly outran Sri Lanka. Ireland beat west indies quite comprehensively. UAE and Scotland put up a fight albeit only patches.
Everyone likes an upset. Hence the outrage on the decision of leaving them out. Why deny the opportunity to these emerging teams. As irish cricketer ed Joyce puts it ,
I now come back to my question,
True, there was an odd upset or a scare but these were not frequent enough. That we still call some good performances by the associates as them punching above their weight tells us the situation.
The cricket world cup is supposed to be a stage for deciding the best team. Only the top teams should compete against each other. The associates are not ready for the world cup.
The ICC should do much more in this aspect. They should have a long term plan for improving the facilities and environment for these nations to be able to play their cricket better.
cliche. That's what everyone says isn't it?
In fact allowing the associates to participate in the world cup is actually the easy way out for them.
Why not try to integrate these teams into a full member's domestic championship. For example take Afghanistan. The BCCI should try and include it in its domestic program and make it play in the Ranji trophy. This will undoubtedly result in much more exposure for the team. Their development must be closely monitored and they must be given all the requisite facilities to improve.
spending 7-8 months in India playing cricket, i am sure the Afghanistan players would not mind that at all as they train LITERALLY in the middle of war.
Instead of simply giving grants the ICC should bear the expenses for this kind of an integration and ensure optimal utilisation of the funds. This way Afghanistan national team will definitely get more exposure towards better cricket and gain more experience.
This is just one example.
One important thing is that the associate teams should be playing more against the top ranked sides.
Before this world cup the top four associates barely played ten matches against the full member countries since 2011. This is grossly inadequate and not enough. They do not even get to play with the second tier teams of other nations i.e India A, Australia A etc. It is laughable to even expect a them to be competitive against top ranked nations.
That the associate nation is showing glimpses of such competitiveness is testimony to their hard work and determination. This must be rewarded.
For all their big talk about providing more opportunities the ICC are not doing enough. the ECB, one of the forerunner to the reduction in number of teams in the 2019 world cup, would be better advised to look at their own game first.
It is truly ironic that the qualifier which is going to be among the bottom ranked full member nations and the top ranked associate nations is going to be held in Bangladesh for the main event which is taking place in the United Kingdom.
The associates have learnt how to scrape by. They have worked extremely hard to get to this place.
With a renewed effort from ICC this effort should not go waste.
Hopefully in the next 10 years or so we will see the associates as major teams too.
Hopefully.
A little before that.
The associate teams.Ireland. Afghanistan. Scotland. UAE.
Ireland is possibly the best associate team right now.They have had their best world cup yet. They have constantly challenged top tier teams and even came one up against them. An upset against pakistan in kingston, The miracle of chinaswamy in 2011 against England and the win over west indies in nelson in 2015.(seriously is that even an upset anymore.) decorates their history of world cups.
In this world cup they have stayed longer in contention for the top four than England and only lost to west indies who sneaked through by a better net run rate.
The reward they get for such a performance- they may not play the next world cup.
William Poterfield is a good captain. He is a sturdy if not stylish batsmen. Two of his top two scores has come against india and pakistan. I have lost count on the number of times he has vocally argued against the reduction in the number of teams in the next World Cup.
 |
| Last world cup for William? |
Their fast bowlers would find a place in almost every full member team. Hamid hassan wears his country on his cheeks, literally. Shapoor Zadran has become a superstar in the country. Mohammed nabi is one already, featuring in afghan comic books. They have risen exponentially over the last 10 years or so. Their reward - they may not play next World cup
| hamid - the comic-book hero |
They have not yet won a single world cup match. They may never.
 |
| Kyle Coetzer |
UAE players aren't even professional. most of them aren't even born there. Krishna" karate" Chandran played first class cricket in kerala and went to UAE is search for work. Mohammad Tauqir is an investment banker while Khurram Khan works for the emirates. They played with gusto but they just couldn't compete and stay in the competition. Most of their players will never play a world cup again.
 |
| Mohammed Taquir- Investment Banker pursuing hobby? |
Associate teams do bring with them the currency of unpredictability and possibility of an upset. Afghanistan nearly outran Sri Lanka. Ireland beat west indies quite comprehensively. UAE and Scotland put up a fight albeit only patches.
Everyone likes an upset. Hence the outrage on the decision of leaving them out. Why deny the opportunity to these emerging teams. As irish cricketer ed Joyce puts it ,
we may be the only sport that may be contracting than expanding, at least in the case of the world cup.However,
I now come back to my question,
what were you thinking associates?DID you really think that you could come here with lack of practice and experience and hope to beat top teams with experience, facility, faculty etc. Did you think that you could beat men who were't only cricketers but superstars. Well, that's great ambition then, folks.
True, there was an odd upset or a scare but these were not frequent enough. That we still call some good performances by the associates as them punching above their weight tells us the situation.
The cricket world cup is supposed to be a stage for deciding the best team. Only the top teams should compete against each other. The associates are not ready for the world cup.
The ICC should do much more in this aspect. They should have a long term plan for improving the facilities and environment for these nations to be able to play their cricket better.
cliche. That's what everyone says isn't it?
In fact allowing the associates to participate in the world cup is actually the easy way out for them.
Why not try to integrate these teams into a full member's domestic championship. For example take Afghanistan. The BCCI should try and include it in its domestic program and make it play in the Ranji trophy. This will undoubtedly result in much more exposure for the team. Their development must be closely monitored and they must be given all the requisite facilities to improve.
spending 7-8 months in India playing cricket, i am sure the Afghanistan players would not mind that at all as they train LITERALLY in the middle of war.
Instead of simply giving grants the ICC should bear the expenses for this kind of an integration and ensure optimal utilisation of the funds. This way Afghanistan national team will definitely get more exposure towards better cricket and gain more experience.
This is just one example.
One important thing is that the associate teams should be playing more against the top ranked sides.
Before this world cup the top four associates barely played ten matches against the full member countries since 2011. This is grossly inadequate and not enough. They do not even get to play with the second tier teams of other nations i.e India A, Australia A etc. It is laughable to even expect a them to be competitive against top ranked nations.
That the associate nation is showing glimpses of such competitiveness is testimony to their hard work and determination. This must be rewarded.
For all their big talk about providing more opportunities the ICC are not doing enough. the ECB, one of the forerunner to the reduction in number of teams in the 2019 world cup, would be better advised to look at their own game first.
It is truly ironic that the qualifier which is going to be among the bottom ranked full member nations and the top ranked associate nations is going to be held in Bangladesh for the main event which is taking place in the United Kingdom.
The associates have learnt how to scrape by. They have worked extremely hard to get to this place.
With a renewed effort from ICC this effort should not go waste.
Hopefully in the next 10 years or so we will see the associates as major teams too.
Hopefully.
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