Give the minnows a chance to shine!

[Cricketman]

Bring back the big man Dwayne Leverock

 

[sohum]

I've thought further about this idea, and maybe it would be better to have a rest of the world test team. Whether Zimbabwe would be allowed to be part of such a team remains to be seen, but if they weren't, then it could look something like:

. William Porterfield - IRE
. Eric Schwartzynski - NET
. Steve Tikolo - KEN
. Ryan ten Doeschate - NET
. Niall O'Brien - IRE
. Kyle O'Brien - IRE
. Ant Botha - IRE
. Thomas Odoyo - KEN
. Chris Wright - SCO
. Khurram Chohan - CAN
. Boyd Rankin - IRE

But it would need a spinner.

That's an interesting idea but it wouldn't fly for anything more than a one-off series. As mentioned earlier, most associate nation players are semi-pro, meaning that they have other jobs. Additionally, this wouldn't further those players national teams at all. They are better off just playing county cricket since that way they individually get better.

 

[angryangy]

When you look at how international all-star teams tend to perform, I don't think it would work as good as would be needed in practice. I think you'd get a better performance from a proper Irish team.

Attaching associate teams to bigger tours seems feasible. It already happens in one part of the world, with teams touring England also playing Scotland and Ireland in ODIs. Additionally, some teams have been known to play warm up matches when they are hosting. Similar situations are surely possible in the subcontinent and UAE. We've also seen that on occasion, broadcasters are willing to televise 4 day tour matches.

The major pitfall of this to date is that such "friendlies" rarely attract the sort of squad that would go to an ICC tournament. Even for professional cricketers, it just amounts to time off work. The incentives need to be put in place and that may require some generosity from the full members' boards.

 

[Owzat]

Perhaps my favourite World Cup was the 1992 World Cup, although the rain rule sucked and Pakistan didn't deserve to reach the final (as England were thrashing them when rain saved them, otherwise they wouldn't have made the semis)

BUT the biggest downside was that it involved only the nine main countries and the minnows weren't invited. There have been some fantastic upsets since, not least Kenya rocking the boat, but there needs to be a balance in the competitions so that they aren't just thrashed. Maybe a preliminary round where the weaker Test nations have to play the minnows in 3-way round robin, give them a shot at the big time and not just a token gesture of one or two games where they'll probably get thrashed by big guns and learn nothing

 

[MuchMore]

Minnows can't often enough hold their own against good teams in an ODI so no point making them play Tests.

It will be wiser to make them play ODIs first.

May be first 3 teams play one series each with Test nations every year. And if they are up to the mark, we can then think of Tests as well.

 

[Terminator]

not one off test but one off FC