The Press and Journal (Inverness, Highlands, and Islands)
Now it’s Porterfield turn to question shrinking feeling
Ireland captain William Porterfield has questioned the International Cricket Council’s decision to make the World Cup smaller.
Porterfield’s side will miss out on the tournament for the first time since 2003 after a five-wicket defeat by Afghanistan in their winner-takes-all qualifier in Harare yesterday.
The ICC cut the number of teams competing from 14 at the last tournament to just 10 for next summer’s event in England and Wales.
The top eight ranked sides were assured of their place and will be joined in a round-robin group stage by Afghanistan and two-times winners West Indies, who came through a hard-fought qualifying campaign.
Cricket Scotland chief executive Malcolm Cannon on Thursday questioned why the ICC is cutting down its World Cup while other global sports are expanding theirs, and 32-year-old Porterfield added his criticism after Ireland lost with five balls to spare.
The Ireland skipper said: “But now there’s only two teams going to a competition that’s played every 208 weeks. You’ve got a six-week competition to just play it so two or three big teams can play nine games on TV so the ICC can cash in with a big cheque – a lot of teams are leaving here with nothing in their pockets.
“What have they got to look forward to now for the next few years? It’s going to be so hard for them.
“All I hear is how good this competition has been, how everyone has beaten everyone, it’s gone round in a circle.
“It has to be put back into the game because countries don’t have a World Cup to look forward to or the possibility of getting to the World Cup.
“If they actually give that carrot, dangle it in front of countries, surely cricket is going to get better in those countries and actually expand.
“I’m not just saying that because we didn’t get there but I feel sorry for a lot of countries that are leaving here that don’t know what’s going to happen next week.”
Porterfield’s men do have the luxury of knowing their immediate future as they prepare for their first Test match. Ireland, along with Afghanistan, were given Test status last year and play their first game against Pakistan in May.
Scotland, on the other hand, only have three scheduled games this summer – a one-day international against England and two T20s against Pakistan – after their narrow defeat to West Indies in their rainaffected final qualifier.
Porterfield added: “I feel sorry for Scotland how it ended for them.”