Afghanistan coach Andy Moles has no doubts over the thorny issue of the 2019 Cricket World Cup and the controversial plan to cut the number of teams from 14 to just 10.
“It’s called the World Cup, and the secret is in the name,” he said.
After Ireland became the last of the four non-Test playing “associate” nations taking part at the World Cup to bow out of the tournament on Sunday, there were plenty of supporters for Moles’ opinion.
Indeed there has been a chorus of criticism, including major names in the sport, such as Sachin Tendulkar and Steve Waugh, regarding plans by the International Cricket Council (ICC) to reduce the number of teams taking part.
Ireland, the leading associate member of the ICC, beat Test teams for the third World Cup in a row.
It says much about Ireland that their victories over both the West Indies and Zimbabwe were no longer seen as shocks.
They were only denied a quarter-final place on net run-rate, with the West Indies scraping through at their expense.
Even in Sunday’s seven-wicket defeat by Pakistan there was a moment for Ireland to savor with captain William Porterfield making a fine hundred.
“I’d love to think it was not our last World Cup game,” Porterfield said. “I think something has to be done if they [the ICC] want to grow the game. If you cut us out of the World Cup then what is the point really for us to keep going.”
All four associate nations taking part at this year’s World Cup — Afghanistan, Ireland, Scotland and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) — did enough to show how much better they might yet be with more games against top-class opposition between World Cups.
True there were, as was the case in 2011, some lopsided encounters, but they did not just involve the associate nations.
England, who in common with the non-Test quartet failed to qualify for the last eight, were on the receiving end of thumping defeats by Australia, New Zealand and Sri Lanka.
By contrast, the Scots — who did not win a match all tournament — made New Zealand sweat when the Black Caps lost seven wickets chasing a victory target of 143.
Afghanistan’s astonishing rise saw them mark their maiden World Cup with a thrilling one-wicket win over Scotland.
Moles, a former opening batsman with English county side Warwickshire, compared his side to Sri Lanka, who in the course of a 21-year span from their appearance as a non-Test nation at the inaugural World Cup in 1975 transformed into champions by the time of the 1996 edition.
The likes of Afghanistan pacemen Hamid Hassan and Shapoor Zadran, UAE batsman Shaiman Anwar and Scotland seamer Josh Davey, whose 15 wickets at this World Cup have so far only been bettered by Australia’s Mitchell Starc, all made a name for themselves.
“Where can they test themselves if they can’t test themselves against the best?” Moles said. There is a certain mystique about the associate nations and I think it would be something that would be lost if they were not given the opportunity to do it again.”
Last month, ICC chief executive David Richardson said: “The question is: ‘What do you want the World Cup to be? Do you want it to be a jamboree of world cricket or the pinnacle of the one-day game?’”
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