10-team World Cup a Retrograde Step: MCC World Cricket Committee

The committee has also recommended that every effort should be made to make cricket an Olympic sport.

Ricky Ponting and Sourav Ganguly from the World cricket committee walk on the pitch at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. (Photo: Reuters)

The MCC World Cricket Committee, which includes former India captain Sourav Ganguly among others, feels the ICC’s decision to limit the ODI World Cup to 10 teams is a “retrograde step” and detrimental to the sport’s chances of finding a place in the Olympics.

The committee met at Lord’s on July 13 and 14 – the first gathering for new members Ganguly, Ricky Ponting and Ramiz Raja, and the last for outgoing members Rahul Dravid and Steve Bucknor.

The ICC Cricket World Cup should be a twelve-team tournament. The committee believes that the organisation of a ten-team ICC Cricket World Cup for 2019 and 2023 is a retrograde step that damages the potential for growth in cricket’s developing nations. The committee urges the ICC Board to reconsider its position and take a decision that it believes is in the best interests of the global game.
– A statement by MCC World Cricket Committee

The committee also recommended that every effort should be made to make cricket an Olympic sport.

Competing in an Olympic Games would be a huge opportunity for players, a massive boost to developing cricket nations and give much greater exposure for the sport to a new audience. Government funding in many countries is specifically linked to a sport’s Olympic status, and cricket’s inclusion would unlock investment to cricket’s governing bodies in ICC Associate and Affiliate countries.
– A statement by MCC World Cricket Committee