Hamilton hits back at Holding

Scottish all-rounder Gavin Hamilton has hit back at claims by Michael Holding, that there are too many teams competing at the 2007 World Cup.

“I got very annoyed by his comments and I certainly don’t agree,” he said.

“Lesser countries need an incentive to keep developing – if you take that away how will they ever get better?”

“All it takes is one good performance from an associate nation and suddenly everyone will sit up and take notice,” he insisted.

“These sides now have some first-class cricketers – they’re not pub sides.

“I don’t think many of the so-called new cricketing nations are quite ready for Test cricket but in one-day cricket it’s anybody’s game and heroes are made.”

Holding slammed the inclusion of minnows in cricket’s most prestigious event, late last week, suggesting they devalued the tournament.

“I do not believe the World Cup should go on for as long as it does (almost two months) and that is partly because there are far too many teams in the competition who are not good enough to be there,” said the West Indies great.

“I’ve argued about this with the ICC for some time. I simply do not believe that if you come fourth in the ICC Trophy that you should be entitled to play in the World Cup.”