The ICC has announced that associate nations – such as Kenya, Canada, Ireland and the Netherlands – will not be involved in the 2015 or 2019 editions of the Cricket World Cup, with the tournament reserved for the ICC’s 10 full members. Australia, Bangladesh, England, India, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka, West Indies and Zimbabwe will be the only teams competing at the event.
The 2011 tournament, which was won by co-host India on Saturday, featured 14 teams and took 43 days to complete, prompting criticism that it was too long. The 2015 edition will be held in Australia and New Zealand. However, in better news for smaller nations the ICC World Twenty20 event, held every two years, is being expanded from 12 to 16 teams.
ICC chief executive Haroon Lorgat also said on Monday that he was pleased with the implementation of the Umpire Decision Referral System (DRS) at the World Cup.
“DRS was successful,” he said, according to AP. “It has improved umpiring standards by more than 5%. There has been no blatant errors or no complaints from teams over decision that could have affected the outcome of the match.”
