Can cricket take a leaf out of rugby's book?
Argentina's impressive performance in the recently concluded Rugby World Cup made one thing obvious - the more teams play better opposition, the more they improve
Whilst many of the "associate" nations are improving, they are not being given enough of an opportunity to do so, and it looks like they will soon hit a ceiling if things are not changed. Ireland have a great chance of becoming a Test nation in 2019. However, a crucial change in the original ICC reforms, made to gain the votes of Zimbabwe and Bangladesh, means that the "bigger" (not better) nations will be given too much protection and the "smaller" nations will not be given enough help both financially and competitively.