Don’t hunt the minnows
In the Guardian Mike Selvey writes that Netherlands showing against England proves the importance of underdogs
Akhila Ranganna
25-Feb-2013
In the Guardian Mike Selvey writes that Netherlands showing against England proves the importance of underdogs. The plan to cut the so-called minnows from the World Cup could hamper the development of cricket as a global sport.
Perhaps it is overstating the case to say that associate and affiliate nations at large have any ambition to play beyond T20. For the majority T20 could well be the right way to go. But since their first World Cup participation, each of Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe and Bangladesh have achieved Test match status and Ireland aim to join them. And in the future, do you think that China, a nation that receives all the cricket transmission offered by the Star TV footprint, and which is said to be gaining a rapid interest in developing the game, would be content not to join them?
Aditya Iyer in the Indian Express writes that when the ICC decided to field only the 10 Test-playing nations in the 2015 World Cup in Australia, they robbed the game not only of fantastic David-Goliath fables, but also of glorious moments.
The World Cup is the only event where non-Test countries can rub shoulders with the best in the business. And they have repeatedly dreamed of that one shot at worldwide recognition, of replacing the “minnow” label with one saying “giant-slayers”.
Akhila Ranganna is assistant editor (Audio) at ESPNcricinfo