Winnow the minnows, but not like this

Suddenly the “old farts” at the International Cricket Council are looking more like wise men after the opening weekend of the Cricket World Cup.

First we had Kenya being routed by New Zealand in less time than it takes to complete a T20 bash – dismissed for 69 inside 23 overs, the Kenyans then suffered the indignity of seeing the Blacks Caps chase down victory inside eight overs without the loss of a wicket. A match that should have lasted up to seven hours and 100 overs reached its conclusion in just 150 minutes and 31.5 overs.

Things didn’t get much better for the minnow brigade as the day wore on, when Canada faced one of the tournament favourites, Sri Lanka.

Led by Kumar Sangakarra and Mahela Jayawardene, the 1996 world champions posted 332 in their allotted 50 over before dismissing the Canadians for 122. Heavens, a 210-run victory margin is a pummelling in Test matches, let alone the one-day format.

Today, Zimbabwe were due to face three-time defending champions Australia, tomorrow sees Netherlands up against England and Wednesday has Kenya seeking redemption against Pakistan (themselves in need of a shot of redemption). Any bets?

So back to the ICC, which on Friday reaffirmed an earlier decision to reduce the number of teams at the four-yearly tournament from 14 to 10 for the 2015 edition in Australia and New Zealand.

ICC chief executive Haroon Lorgat cited a number of reasons for the decision, including the fact that the 50-over World Cup had become too long and unwieldy.

We all remember the tedious nature of the 2007 tournament in the Caribbean, which featured 16 teams. Even with two fewer teams this time, the opening weeks are unlikely to thrill as everyone waits for the heavyweights to go through to the knock-out stages.

This is how it is supposed to be, right? Everyone wants to see India v Pakistan, South Africa v Australia and England v Sri Lanka. Not Canada v Kenya and Ireland v Netherlands.

The ICC’s decision will see the likes of Kenya, Canada, Netherlands and Ireland sit out the next World Cup, although it tried to ease their anguish by saying the World T20 would see an increase to 16 teams from 12. This is the playground where the likes of Kenya and the Netherlands need to learn their trade, is the ICC’s reasoning.

The announcement has provoked a furious debate on the sidelines of the World Cup, with Australian captain Ricky Ponting backing the ICC’s stance, saying the “small nations” needed exposure to the big guns, just not on the World Cup stage.

On the other side, South African AB de Villiers, England spinner Graeme Swann, Australia’s Shaun Tait, West Indian Kieron Pollard, New Zealand’s Brendon McCullum and Indian Suresh Raina have all championed the associate teams’ (non-Test playing nations) cause.

“Of course the emerging nations should stay in it. Why would you want to take the world out of the World Cup? Shocks can happen,” Swann elegantly argued.

“I don’t think it’s going to help many countries produce top level test cricketers,” Canada captain Ashish Bagai said. “It’s really going to hold back the growth of the game. If they want to keep it to 10 teams, that’s fine, but it’s never going to be a global sport.”

What the ICC conveniently forgets is that the likes of Kenya and Ireland have had their moments in the sun – at the expense of the big guns.

Kenya beat the West Indies in 1996 and Sri Lanka in 2003, when they memorably reached the semi-finals, while Ireland sent Pakistan packing four years ago.

And if things were indeed so lopsided then why would the ICC tweak its own World Cup format for the 2011 edition to ensure no repeat of 2007, when India and Pakistan went home early and the likes of Bangladesh and Ireland progressed to the knock-out stages?

The problem does not lie with the World Cup and who plays in it, as the ICC so conveniently seems to believe.

The problem lies with what happens in the years between World Cups. Due to their non-Test status, associate countries have to make do with very little top-level cricket, meaning their teams and structures stagnate, only to briefly flicker into life when the World Cup looms every four years.

What the ICC should be doing is insisting that the major cricketing nations host regular tri-or-quadrangular ODI tournaments where at least one of the participating teams is an associate country like Kenya or Canada. That way these countries will have a constant measure of top-level competition to help lift standards and make them competitive.

The ICC is correct in its reasoning that the World Cup should be reserved for the best cricketing nations – but the way to achieve that is not by a process of culling but by nurturing.

The fault lies not with the minnows but with the custodians of the game.