Not have the ICC cut the number of Associates at the next World Cup from six to four at the behest of the hosts, but the Asian Cricket Council hopes that two of those slots will be taken by Asian counties.
"India beating Australia is very good for cricket in Asia and will encourage nations like Bangladesh, United Arab Emirates, China and Afghanistan," Ashraful Huq, a former secretary of the Bangladesh Cricket Board, told AFP. "I watched both the finals in Australia and was amazed how the young Indian team paid the Australians back, both on and off the field."
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This is funny. So the four hosts nations reduce the number of associate spots, but hope India's performance will spur two Asian associates or affiliates to qualify? As it stand now there only two Asian countries out of the ten current qualifiers teams and most likely they will be the only two Asian countries among the 12 eventual Qualifier teams. Having two Asian countries qualify is not going to be easy (the chances are slim). The best chance for two Asian countries to qualify is if Afghanistan and Nepal both make it to top of Division 5 and then Division 4 and then Division 3 to make it to the World Cup Qualifiers (beating 18 teams along the way). If that happens then there would four Asian teams out of 12 Qualifiers. I rather expect though that Kenya, Ireland, the Netherlands, Namibia, Canada and Scotland are the best bets for the four spots left.
Fancy UAE (home advantage) Kenya, Scotland and Ireland to qualify. That's by the by though. What this article demonstrates is the curious mindset of the powers that be in cricket at the moment. It makes me wonder that if the WCQ had say 8or9 Asian Nations if the CWC2011OC would have been as keen to cut the numbers.
I would hope that the ICC would see further than the pots of money available on the Indian sub-continent and get back to their appointed task of promoting the game worldwide. It'll be a sad day for cricket if 20-20 and highly-paid Indian league games replace 50-over and 4/5-day test matches. Is the world's attention span now reduced to one televised timeslot?
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