ICC not meeting their mandate to grow the game
WHEN Ireland beat the West Indies in their opening match of this Cricket World Cup, some wags reacted by saying, “We’re still awaiting the first upset of the tournament”.
It was both a jibe at how poor the Windies have become – and how far Ireland have come in recent years. So much so that there is a school of thought that is asking them to receive full Testplaying status.
While the International Cricket Council has become a big boys club of three – India, Australia and England control the sport – they are failing in their stated duty and aim to grow the game. And by taking the decision to restrict the 2019 World Cup to only 10 teams and have quality versus quality, they have shrunk it even further. There are a couple of things wrong with the current World Cup format, one being that it’s so long and has become a case of wake us up when the knockout stages begin. But, it is good to have the associate countries – which is to say, the non-Test playing nations – in the mix.
Some of their matches have been rather entertaining, with Ireland, Scotland, the United Arab Emirates and Afghanistan all enjoying their moments in the southern hemisphere sun.
But to suggest they should be added to the Test family is naive.
Firstly, we know that the shorter the format of a game, the more chance of an upset, whereas five days is always going to separate the men from the boys. And Ireland, like all the associates, are still young lads.
Put in a minnow against the Proteas in a Twenty20 game and you might get an upset. The bowlers can only send down four overs, while a couple of quick early wickets, and leaping, onehanded catches on the boundary would lay the play for an upset.
Over 50 overs, those chances are lessened, because 50 overs gives teams a chance to play some “proper cricket”. Sure, you’ll get the odd upset, and to be fair, Ireland’s win over the Windies was one of those, but also bowlers can only deliver a maximum 10 overs.
That’s different to two innings each where you will have someone like Dale Steyn bowling throughout the day in short, fiery spells, and reversing the old ball with sublime skill, before being allowed to get his hands on another new ball after 80 overs – although the likelihood of an associate nation getting to 80 overs is small indeed. The minnows have a place in the game, but it’s not at Test level.
One can argue that Bangladesh and Zimbabwe had to start somewhere as well, and that’s true, but while they are the laughing stocks of Test cricket, they’d still wallop an associate over five days.
The ICC is interested in how much cash they can make, despite what they say about growing the game. And the three who call the shots would not want to invite a country like Ireland to the top table and have to eat with them.
They’d feed them scraps, like scheduling interminable series between Ireland, Zimbabwe and Bangladesh, while the “elite” teams would be playing each other.
Those are the match-ups – the Ashes series, India against Australia, India against Pakistan, India against England – that the TV broadcasters want to put on, and which ensures millions of dollars goes into the ICC’s coffers.
Can you imagine the interest, both from TV or at the stadium, between Zimbabwe and Ireland in a Test match? Wherever you staged it you’d be lucky to draw a few hundred spectators.
So, it’s more a case of wanting to grow cricket’s appeal, while keeping the minnows happy.
One way would be to include more of them in the T20 World Cup, where there is more chance of them hooking a big fish. And to include more in a higher-voltage, more dynamic ODI World Cup.
But the ICC has closed that door for 2019. We’re back where we started: thinking about the romance and freshness of an associate team dining with the big boys, but unwilling to come out and actually invite them.