This would actually be solved by the ECB being less insular, especially now with their hustled extra ICC money - they shouldn't encourage their counties, as they currently do with extra payments, to hoover up international fringe-English talent.That is also a fair point but if we really think Morgan, Rankin, Ervine & Jarvis would have changed their minds either way I don't think we would be honest with ourselves.
The best will always leave those 2 nations for varying reasons.
1) Money ?
2) Involved in better teams ?
3) Play for a country/county with better admin & better opportunity to maximize themselves as cricketers ?
The remaining players we sit with now, we most probably sit with similar quality in 30 years because their best will always leave if good enough.
If not 9, then 10. At least it sill gives Scotland, Afghanistan, Holland and the types to try and knock Ireland , Zim & Bangers off the perch and gives 1/2 of those 3 the chance to still play at a WC.
I know! It wasn't the format's fault that those teams were crappy. France didn't make the next round in 2002, no one started trying to rejig the whole format so that they make the knock outs for sure every world cup.They tried to redo 92 with the 07 Super 8 but India and Pakistan were too **** to make it that far
The comparison does not hold. The football WC goes Semi-knockouts -> Knockouts -> Knockouts The 2007 WC went Semi-knockouts -> Snoozefest -> Knockouts. Name one other successful sport with an ass-backwards format like that. The football WC keeps building up the tension at every single stage. That's how you construct a tournament. You don't build it up, then let it deflate for a whole month.I know! It wasn't the format's fault that those teams were crappy. France didn't make the next round in 2002, no one started trying to rejig the whole format so that they make the knock outs for sure every world cup.
Yeah the format was basically created under the (hilariously incorrect, as it was) assumption that the minnows were incapable of winning one-off games. The organisers didn't really want them there from a revenue perspective, so they devised a format to eliminate them early, and it backfired.The comparison does not hold. The football WC goes Semi-knockouts -> Knockouts -> Knockouts The 2007 WC went Semi-knockouts -> Snoozefest -> Knockouts. Name one other successful sport with an ass-backwards format like that. The football WC keeps building up the tension at every single stage. That's how you construct a tournament. You don't build it up, then let it deflate for a whole month.
you realise it can rain in a 9 team world cup too right?I just think it is quite ridiculous in an event like this where Australia almost had 2 weeks between games due to weather as a host nation.
1992 world cup, you knew every day there was a game it could be closely fought out and interest was high by fans of the elite test nations because of it.
Cricket is a funny sport, level of quality is so important due its lengthy duration . I love the game so much but lesser quality cricket is just not entertaining on the eye to me. The game might be a close one but at the end of the day I want the best shots to have been played off the best balls, the ball fizzing off the wicket and hitting the keepers glovers hard or the wickets going tumbling or mastery spin at work.
But that's just me.
Pretty amazing to thing the Australians even played a couple of matches against the Danish national team in Copenhagen back in the late 80's. I think the scene is almost entirely made up of expats now, but there were quite a few Danish-born players in those games.That makes 26; Singapore are 26th.
Just below that are Denmark, Italy, Oman and Jersey.
The best line I can see drawn is at 20 or 21 (Canda/Nepal: http://icc-live.s3.amazonaws.com/cm...0e8c6f39-ICC Global Rankings 29 June 2014.pdf ) ... but it's still pretty arbitrary. While I think Tendulkar probably thought it through better than Crowe, I still think it's probably a fairly arbitrary number tbh.
If we think that Morgan and Rankin would've been given so much access to the training etc they got if they were playing for Ireland then I don't think we're being honest.That is also a fair point but if we really think Morgan, Rankin, Ervine & Jarvis would have changed their minds either way I don't think we would be honest with ourselves.
That's the point though, it was the ECB's system that helped develop Joyce, Morgan and Rankin.I don't buy the argument that they are using our facilities, so we should have more rights on associate players. It is all fine for club games, but for international, a player has a right to choose which team they want to play for. If you have better players, no one is stopping you from selecting them ahead of the likes of Rankin domestically or internationally. An associate player should be able to switch allegiance to his associate country whenever he wants, and should be able to return to a test team if the test team feels he is good enough, as long they are associate nations, to allow such nations' players to get more exposure. If England have a problem with this, they should focus on trying to develop their own players instead of stealing players. And don't deny them test status, ****s.
Yeah, I am not either, tbh.I too am devastated that we don't have a WC 2020 every two years...