07 April,2011 07:11 AM IST | | Clayton Murzello
The International Cricket Council's decision to restrict the 2015 World Cup to a 10-team affair is a kick in the teeth for a team like Ireland, who impressed everybody with their spirit, sensational fielding and ability to ignore the reputation factor in their quest to conquer larger forces.
They have every right to feel cheated. After all, they famously beat England in the competition at Bangalore.
This win also created more interest in the following India vs Ireland game so that was great for a Giants vs Minnows build-up. Ireland had also beaten Pakistan in the 2007 edition and this time they proved that it was no fluke.
Sure, there is a need to ensure well-rounded quality in the tournament. David versus Goliath games are a bore and turn meaningless most of the time. However, there is no guarantee that battles within the Test-playing nations will be exciting to the average fan. Zimbabwe were terrible in the 2011 World Cup, but they will still be around for the next edition. On what basis, is a fair question. There must exist a qualification pattern that is fair to everyone.
The tournament has to be less spaced out too. During one phase of the event, India were playing one game a week which didn't help momentum. By 2015, Twenty20 will probably challenge the 50-50 variety more, so the ICC ought to be truly realistic in their approach.
It won't be out of place to pick the brains of participating captains before the ICC decide on other aspects of the format in place. Technology used in referrals is another topic captains may want to have a say in. What happened in the India vs England match when it came to the dismissal of Ian Bell was downright ridiculous. What progress the ICC is making on that score is what the cricketing world would like to know ASAP.
Technology should be used to minimise human errors, but it can't act as a tool to undermine the role of the on-field umpires.u00a0 Several experts still believe that the on-field umpires are in the best position to adjudicate leg before calls (yes, better than their colleague in an air-conditioned box up in the pavilion), but they can make mistakes. That's why efforts to improve on-field umpiring must be made on a war footing.
By the way, at last, Simon Taufel, the best umpire of the game, earned the honour of officiating in a World Cup final on Saturday. He couldn't do so all these years because his home country Australia kept making it to the final. That's probably the only downside to neutrality in international cricketing umpiring. But we'll take that!
