The 2019 ICC World Cup Cricket tournament in England & Wales kicks-off on May 30th with one of the lowest levels of participation in the tournament’s recent history. While as many as 14 teams participated in 2011 and 2015, the current version has just ten.
The teams to qualify are:
England
India
Australia
New Zealand
South Africa
Pakistan
Bangladesh
Sri Lanka
West Indies
Afghanistan
West Indies and Afghanistan had to go through a qualification competition that had associate teams like Zimbabwe, Ireland, Papua New Guinea, Netherlands, Hong Kong and Scotland in it.
The ICC (International Cricket Committee)’s decision to reduce the number of participants was based on the logic that quality cricket was the need of the hour and that limited teams meant avoiding boring or one-sided matches, something that has caused the affiliate nations to react. By shrinking the size of the tournament, the ICC has made it much harder for smaller nations to qualify, they say. To promote the game worldwide they feel that the tournament should be made bigger in size and increased participation will only add to the popularity of the sport.
