IT IS ALL BUT a done deal. International Cricket Council (ICC) chief executive Dave Richardson maintains that, in spite of furious protests, it is sticking to its decision to reduce the 2019 World Cup in England from the 14 teams of the last two tournaments to ten.
As it stands, England and other teams in the top seven in the ICC’s ODI rankings, as of September 30, 2017, would go through automatically; the quota would be filled by the two top teams in a separate qualifying tournament in Bangladesh for those on the ODI rankings between nine and ten (at present Afghanistan and Ireland) and the top six from the virtually anonymous World Cricket League, Division 1.
According to Richardson, the World Cup is the game’s the premium event and “without exception should be played between teams that are evenly matched and competitive”.
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