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Monday, April 4, 2011

ICC to decide on 2015 World Cup format on Monday


Ireland's Kevin O'Brien
Ireland's Kevin O'Brien celebrates victory over England but his side could miss out altogether in 2015. Photograph: Philip Brown/Reuters
A decision on the number of teams that will take part in the next World Cup is set to be determined by the International Cricket Council following a meeting of its executive board in Mumbai on Monday.
The ICC has previously stated it would cut the number of competing teams from 14 to 10 for the 2015 tournament in Australia and New Zealand.
The format of the World Cup has been criticised for being too long, with India's success in the final on Saturday arriving six weeks after they opened the tournament against Bangladesh.
A reduction in the number of competing teams is likely to see the number of associate members reduced after teams such as Canada and Kenya suffered some heavy defeats.
"The length of 50 overs will find certain teams out but I think there are 10 teams that can seriously compete in that format," the ICC chief executive Haroon Lorgat told Sky Sports News. "That's a debate we are still finalising; in fact the board meeting over the next two days will consider that and will determine which teams will play in the 2015 World Cup."
The ICC currently has 10 full member nations with Zimbabwe the only one of those not a Test-playing country.
There may, however, be scope for at least one of the associate nations to play in the tournament with the ICC still yet to reveal how qualification would take place.
While the associate nations struggled at the recent tournament Ireland proved their ability to compete with the full members, highlighted by their victory over England. The Irish also reached the Super Eight stage four years ago when they beat Pakistan.
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