Keith Graham: crucial ICC Conference in Hong Kong
This week is crucial. In Hong Kong, the ICC Boards are meeting and will either confirm or modify their recent decision that the 2015 World Cup will be played solely between the ten Full Member nations (the Test Match playing countries only).
If the ICC fails to grasp the nettle and change their retrograde proposal, no Associate Member nations will have the opportunity to participate - no Ireland, who did so well in the sub-continent earlier this year; no Holland, no Kenya, no Canada, and of course no Scotland.
There is a glimmer of hope… just! ICC President Sharad Pawar will ask the ICC Executive Board to re-visit the decision to restrict the competition in this way. Scotland’s Keith Oliver is a member of that Board, but no-one can tell is his will just be a voice in the wilderness, drowned out by the Full Member countries. Their vision is surely self-centred and, to say the least, narrow-minded - especially after a 2011 World Cup universally regarded as one of the best events in the game’s history (according to the ICC itself).
Incidentally, other matters under discussion include proposals to experiment in domestic cricket with the removal of the maximum overs a bowler can bowl in one-day cricket - currently, of course, ten. I well remember, when our own domestic competition took that rule on, the late Peter (father of Heather the Weather) Reid saying that, if he had still been playing, he would have sued them. It was always very difficult to wrest the ball from Peter’s grasp when he was in full flow! He would have bowled at both ends if the rules had allowed it!
But I can’t quite see the logic in this proposal. A ten-over limitation means that a side has to have at least five bowlers and any waiving of that necessity would seem to represent a retrograde step – one that again perhaps favours the big fish in the cricketing pond!
The ICC also wants to see what the effect of having no compulsory close catchers might be. And a further suggestion is to have a maximum of four fielders outside the 30-yard circle during non-power play overs, with a possibility also of allowing two bouncers per over rather than one.
As one who has never properly taken to power plays in the first place, I wonder whether all this represents too much tinkering with a game which is, I believe, making it even more of a mystery to spectators.
However, the most important item on the ICC’s agenda this week is that critical decision on the 2015 World Cup. I applaud the ICC for having done so much to further the cause of this great game in parts of the world where its traditions are not so strong. Cricket is now played in an organised way in many countries where previously it was little more than incidental.
Who would have thought, for instance, less than a decade ago, that Afghanistan would be a growing force in the game? Who, ten years ago, could have imagined Scotland playing competitive cricket in places as dispersed as Canada, Namibia, Bangalesh and Dubai? Cricket here, in Ireland especially and in Holland, has come on by leaps and bounds.
And, whilst there is now a variety of competitions, like the Intercontinental Cup and Twenty20, the goal for all Associate Member nations is, absolutely, that same World Cup. This is the pinnacle - some might say the raison d’etre - for all the heightened activity these nations now pursue. Cricket in these countries has grown out of all recognition throughout the last decade or so. We, here in Scotland, have now in place a much-enhanced cricket development programme. There are probably more youngsters playing the game now than ever before, and they are all encouraged to harbour great ambition.
But now, all this threatened. Take away that pinnacle and it will be very hard to sustain the same level of ambition. Take away that opportunity, and the game of cricket will be the worse for it. During the last decade, this growing thread of opportunity has seen increasing numbers of players from Scotland, Ireland and Holland make their way into the English county game, simply because they have been driven by ambition and that ultimate goal of participating in World Cups. The English game, I would suggest, is better for that input of material.
Is the intention of restricting participation in World Cups, therefore, down to greed … more money into the coffers of the Test playing nations? More for the rich and less for the poor always seems to be a theme of the most powerful. If so in cricket, then for a sport that is frankly a disgrace. The ICC are the stewards of this game and it is surely their responsibility to ensure that cricket is embraced by as many nations as possible and, above all, that the route to the top is always kept open.
Maintaining a route for countries with real ambition to reach that ultimate goal is essential. That is what drives the game. Even if only two Asociate Member countries are admitted to the 2015 finals, having played their way into it, that would keep that pathway to the top clear. Ideally, four non-Test playing nations would be better. All cup competitions, in whatever sport, are surely healthier when there is a chance of some giant-killing.
