Boost for Windies cricket

KARACHI. - Legendary batsman Viv Richards says West Indian cricket will benefit from qualifying for the Cricket World Cup, and that it would have been a huge blow had they not made it to England in 2019.

And he called on the ICC to rethink the decision to reduce the size of the World Cup to 10 teams.

“You’ve got to try everything that is possible to improve the teams and the standard of play,” he said.

“More participants will be good for international cricket.”

The West Indies - whose fortunes have plummeted in recent years - were in danger of missing out after the International Cricket Council reduced the number of teams in next year’s 50-over global show-piece from 14 to 10.

The top eight teams in the ICC rankings qualified automatically, leaving the ninth-ranked West Indies having to come through a tournament against nine other nations in Zimbabwe for the final two places.

The West Indies finally squeaked through when they beat Scotland last week in a controversial rain-affected showdown in Harare.

“I won’t say I am relieved because I felt that they had a strong enough team in order for them to win and qualify,” Richards said in Karachi at the weekend, where he was attending the final of the Pakistan Super League.

The Antiguan, one of the greatest batsmen of all time, was part of the West Indies World Cup-winning teams in 1975 and 1979.