Has the ICC taken a backward step?

Vic Marks, in the Observer, questions the ICC's decision to do a U-turn on its decision to cut the number of teams in the 2015 World Cup. He claims the 2011 World Cup wasn't really "higly successful" and that the new Powerplay rules complicate the 50-over game more.

The recent tournament in India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh was neither highly successful (although it did make pots of money) nor universally acclaimed. A better résumé would be to say that the 2011 World Cup was not as disastrous as its predecessors in 2007 in the Caribbean, 2003 in Southern Africa or 1999 in the United Kingdom. But 2011 was still flawed. The first month would have been a complete waste of time and energy but for England's travails in their attempts to qualify. Even then precisely the eight teams anticipated qualified for the quarter-finals. That part of the tournament went on far too long.