Cricket is expanding its horizons at long last
Tim Wigmore’s weekly look at the game below the Test playing nations
For years associates have dreaded every drop of ICC news for the damage it could bring. Between 2012 and 2015 alone, associates had to endure a series of shattering blows.
There was confirmation of the World Cup contracting to ten teams; the ICC shunning the Olympic Games even though cricket’s inclusion would transform the game beyond the Test world; the World T20 moving from every two years to four, further reducing opportunities for associates to reach the world stage; the World Cricket League being slowly being cut from eight divisions to five, reducing chances for the next batch of pretenders.
And, worst of all, the egregious Big Three reforms of 2014, costing the associate world $275million over eight years to make Australia, England and India even richer.
What a welcome change, then, that news from Dubai is now the cause of anticipation, not trepidation. As reported in The Cricket Paper last month, the ICC is close to confirming that the World T20 will return in 2018 and every two years thereafter, with at least 16 teams in the first round and probably 12 – rather than 10, as in this year’s tournament – in the main stage.
Under the chairmanship of Shashank Manohar, previously the president of the BCCI, the ICC is making progress towards undoing the inequities of the restructuring two years ago, although Manohar’s successor at the BCCI, Anurag Thakur, will ensure that India’s share of ICC revenue remains well above that which it received before 2014.
Most eye-catching is the ICC’s push to introduce divisions – most likely seven teams in the top division and five in the second – to Test cricket, with promotion and relegation every two years and two new associates being able to play Test matches. There are also discussions about a similar structure being adopted for ODI cricket. And – just as significantly – the ICC is considering a radical proposal to dramatically increase the number of countries allowed to play full T20 internationals from the current 18 to somewhere over 50, perhaps even all 105 members.
If San Marino can play Liechtenstein in a full football international without anyone fretting about the impact on statistics, it is insane that cricket should stop Argentina playing Brazil in a full T20 international.
All of this points to a tantalising future, one in which the worth of cricketers in the associate world is embraced and they are given the chance to make good on their talents.
The sterling work of the ICC’s development programme in recent years – there are now 1.5m people who play cricket beyond the Test world, compared with 500,000 in 2010 – has helped transform the quality of the game in associate nations.
Now, it is up to the ICC board, who have too often acted contrary to the wishes of ICC management, to display enlightenment and forward-thinking to vote the changes through.
If they do so, then cricket will have taken a huge step towards shattering the cast system that damages the sport and holds it back, even while other sports are expanding with great haste.
This week, the European Championship begins, including 24 nations for the first time ever. Rugby’s World Cup is 20 nations and being taken to new frontiers: Japan will host the 2019 tournament. The next basketball
If the ICC acts decisively and seizes this opportunity – as it must – cricket will cease to be a game forever looking inward fretfully. Instead, it will be a game gaining exciting new players and enhanced by the emergence of vibrant new teams
World Cup will have 32 teams. There is still so much work to do, even if the mooted reforms are pushed through. It looks almost certain that the 2019 World Cup will comprise only 10 nations: an utter embarrassment for a game that claims to be the second most popular in the globe, and aims to be the “world’s favourite sport” by 2023.
Persuading Australia, England and India to return some of the extra lucre they earned through their shameful politiking in 2014 will not be easy.
The ICC might never get a voting system or revenue distribution model that genuinely shatters the Victorian status divide between full members and the rest, and ensures opportunity and money are awarded on merit alone. And the only decision confirmed by the ICC this year was actually a regressive one: voting for the automatic qualification of full members to the U19 World Cup –“a disgrace”, as one insider put it – to continue.
But for all the caveats, there are now more reasons for associate countries to be optimistic about their future than for many years. If the ICC acts decisively and seizes this opportunity – as it must – cricket will cease to be a game forever looking inward fretfully.
Instead, it will be a game gaining exciting new players and enhanced by the emergence of vibrant new teams to add to the game’s rich tapestry. Consider what Sri Lanka – the country that gave us Muralitharan, Sangakkara and Jayawardene, Jayasuriya and the wonder of the 1996 World Cup triumph – have given to world cricket since becoming a full member 35 years ago.
Now imagine what unimaginable delights cricket lovers could enjoy if the same opportunities were now afforded to Afghanistan, Ireland, Nepal, Scotland, the USA and many others.
And, as those on the ICC should have recognised years ago, expanding the sport is no act of philanthropy. Doing the right thing will make cricket a richer sport, both on and off the field.