VC the slogger
PlanetCricket Forever
- Joined
- Aug 23, 2010
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The ICC's decision to contract the team count in the Cricket World Cup from 14 as of the 2015 edition to 10 for 2019 and 2023 was perhaps one of the most short sighted and greed-driven decisions in the history of bat and ball sports. Being simple cricket lovers or tragics with no say in how the ICC is run, there isn't much we can do but look on in disappointment while other sports such as rugby continue to grow while ours shrinks further for the benefit of select few nations in the short term. And of course, contemplate how very different things could have been if the administrators put the health of the sport before all else, and gave every nation a proper opportunity to qualify for the biggest cricketing event of them all.
That is exactly what I plan to do here. My idea for a 2019 Cricket World Cup involves giving an opportunity of qualifying to every country in the world that can put together a team of at least 12 players, irrespective of whether they have Test status, ODI status, T20I status, associate or affiliate status, or even so much as an active membership status in the eyes of ICC. That whole Victorian era class division system doesn't mean a thing here. This version of of the World Cup will involve nearly 140 teams (nearly 30 more than the current number of ICC members) aiming for qualification across six different continental qualification tournaments, therefore truly putting the World in the Cup. Only England and Wales, the two host nations for the 2019 event, gain direct qualification to the tournament. Every other team, irrespective of status, must qualify for the event through their respective continental qualification tournaments.
The final team count for the 2019 Cricket World Cup will be 32 teams. Only 30 nations out of nearly 140 will join England and Wales in the final tournament, with 4 being from Africa, 3 from the Americas (North, South & Central), 5 from the Americas (Caribbean island nations), 7 from Asia, 4 from the East Asia-Pacific region (a combination of East Asian, Oceanian & Pacific regions) and 7 from Europe. The European qualifying tournament will be played first, followed by the Americas (Caribbean), East Asia-Pacific, Africa and the Americas (North, South & Central).
Africa | 23* | 0 | 0 | 4
Americas NSC | 17 | 0 | 0 | 3
Americas CAR | 20* | 0 | 0 | 5
Asia | 21* | 0 | 0 | 7
East Asia-Pacific | 17* | 0 | 0 | 4
Europe | 38+2 | 7+2 | 31 | 7+2
Total | 135 + 2* | 7+2 | 31 | 30 + 2
The eligibility rules for players appearing for national cricket teams has also been relaxed to the extent where birth, passports, residence or any known heritage to a particular nation will make them eligible to represent that particular nation during their respective continental qualifying tournaments and the 2019 World Cup. This was done to help improve the standard of cricket played by countries that haven't been fortunate enough to receive Test status and all the perks that come with it. Among the biggest beneficiaries of this new ruling are China, Croatia, Denmark, France ,Germany, Greece, Italy and Portugal, whose squads have been strengthened to the extent where they are expected to compete fiercely against some of today's top rung of associate nations and perhaps even the lower rung of Test nations. Other changes include the disbanding of the West Indies as a single cricketing nation into many smaller Caribbean nations who shall take part in the qualifying tournaments of the Americas Caribbean and NSC.
The intention of this league idea is to truly put the World in the Cup, regardless of the quality of teams participating and thereby provide the lesser known cricketing nations with much needed exposure at this level. To some extent, this league is also meant as a mocking gesture to the authorities for their woeful governance of the sport we all love so dearly by putting the needs of a select few ahead of the needs of the many, and reducing our favorite sport's premier event to nothing more than a glorified version of the ICC Champions Trophy. As of now there are still 2 years and 3 months remaining until the start of the far duller real life 2019 Cricket World Cup, which starts from 30 May 2019 and stretches all the way to 15 July 2019 despite containing only 10 teams. Even by my usually slow standards (you can't rush perfection; plus my life gets busier by the day), I believe that should be enough time for me to get through the six different qualifying tournaments as mapped out and then get on with the real deal.
The presence of so many nations obviously means that managers will be needed to manage a minimum of 2 teams per qualifying tournament (no more than 1 ODI/T20I-playing nation per head) in most cases, while I grudgingly take care of the rest myself. The concept of co-managers will also be non-existent here, and I shall not be reserving teams ahead of the commencement of the respective tournaments for anybody regardless of their status on these forums. The first qualifying tournament to be played shall be the European qualifying tournament featuring a staggering 38 teams in the knockout format. Sign-ups are to be on a first-come-first-serve basis when I declare the need for them, and I will set aside a date and time for them to begin in order to give everybody interested an equal opportunity to claim their favorite teams.
For now, I am simply going to reserve as many posts in this thread as I see fit and complete my ongoing Europa Cup before I'm comfortable enough to get things started, which could take a few days or longer at the very least. In the meantime, I request your patience and look forward to your support for when the time comes.
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Cameroon v 
Mali at Harare
Ghana v 
Harare 
Mozambique v 
Eswatini
Nigeria v 
Malawi
Zambia v 
Lesotho
Botswana v 
Morocco
Seychelles v 
Rwanda
Tanzania v 
St Helena
Sierra Leone v 
Gambia
South Africa v 
Namibia v 
Kenya v 
Uganda at 
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