Does ICC really want to promote the game and make Cricket a Global Sport?

Watching the qualifying stage of ICC World T20 2016 is a hard thing to do if you are a true Cricket lover. With only two teams set to qualify for the main draw (one from each group of 4), does not do any justice not only to associate nations but also to World T20 and Cricket, if we look at the bigger picture. To make the matters worse, a double-match washout between Ireland-Bangladesh and Oman-Netherlands at Dharamshala meant Ireland and Netherlands, two potential associates who could seriously compete the main draw nations were knocked out of the World T20 2016. Emotional post-match conference speeches from Ireland, Netherlands and Scotland’s skippers speaks about how distraught they are with ICC and it’s policy regarding handling the associate member nations. Scotland’s captain Preston Mommsen asked a simple but an eye-opening question to ICC: “how could I improve my skills if I play just one international game in 1 year” and condition of all other associates is no different.

Netherlands skipper Peter Borren is distraught with ICC during a post-match conference following their knockout

Looking at the present scenario, one wonders whether ICC confines only to BCCI, CA, ECB or it is really a global cricketing body? Does ICC really want to promote the game and make it a truly global sport or it is just here to fill the big pockets of fat bosses of big three boards? And one more reason to worry about is that why the hell is ICC trying to cut down the participation of associate member nations in World events? In first place, the associate nations don’t get to play any bilateral series against main teams and if ICC denies them their right to play in global events, how in this world are they going to improve their skills, how are they going to taste different conditions and face the crunch-time situations and ICC’s statement stating that 2019 50-over Cricket World cup to be a 8-nation tournament has already not gone down well with associate nations and if ICC does say so, how the game is going to be promoted? Why the fans from these nation would watch, follow and learn Cricket if ICC does not want to include them? And to be honest with these associate member nations, these teams have delivered when they were given a chance. In spite of being under must-win situations all the time, these nations have fared well and we have had many instances in the recent past where these so called minnows have challenged the top-draw nations. Consider the example of 2015 world Cup that was played down under. England, the nation that brought the game to the world, were knocked out in the first round, thanks to their defeat at the hands of Bangladesh, Ireland defeated West Indies. Bangladesh reached the quarter-final stage, Ireland’s progress was significant as they managed to win three out of six matches and at one point of time were in serious contention of qualifying for the quarter-final stage. Looking at the present World T20 scenario, 5 teams viz Bangladesh, Ireland, Netherlands, Zimbabwe and Afghanistan seriously deserve to have a place in main draw of the Tournament and unfortunately only 2 out of 8 teams are going to make the cut. This is T20 and undoubtedly an ideal platform for spreading the game worldwide, while on the contrary, ICC just wants a 10-nation world T20. It should have been at least a 12 team affair if not 16. To add to it, World T20 2016 is in India, it is for the 3^rd consecutive time that an Asian country is hosting this event with 2012 and 2014 editions being played in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh respectively. If we were to live in an ideal World and if ICC had been seriously proactive, it would have not only increased the number of associate nations participating in the event but also would have given the opportunity of hosting the 20-day event to a country say like Ireland. In such a scenario, it would have been a showcase event for all Irish fans and more importantly it would have sent a strong message to all other associate nations indicating that ICC is open to experiment and seriously wants to promote the game even in lesser known territories and make Cricket a truly global sport. Well, though such plans can be made, they look to be far from executed at least as far as ICC’s current style of functioning is concerned. As an Optimist and a true Cricket lover, I see nothing is lost and ICC can still make this sport a global one. Well as a matter of fact, apart from increasing the participation of associate nations in global events, these nations basically are Cricket Starved, starved of good quality Cricket and the only way to bring them up in Cricket is to arrange bilateral series between associate nations and full member nations. For example, if Australia is touring England for the Ashes, instead of Australia and England playing a long inconsequential ODI series after the Ashes, a tri-series between Australia, England and Ireland or Netherlands can be arranged which will help the associates to get involved in good quality competitive Cricketing environment or instead, say Scotland can tour South Africa, India or England for a 3-match T20 series. These measures would not only help these associate nations play good quality Cricket but would also help them in getting familiar to overseas conditions. Playing with top-draw nations and playing more and more Cricket is the only way by which associate nations can improve their skills and ICC as a global Cricketing body should ensure that this happens and a team is not left to play just a single International game in a year’s time. It’s already a high time and ICC should take the required steps and globalize the sport or otherwise there would be hardly six to eight contenders playing this beautiful game jeopardizing it’s future.