Quality over quantity

It has been a frustrating week for the followers of the Cricket World Cup 2019, with rain affecting more matches than have been at all the previous tournaments combined and sadly the forecast for the coming week is no better. It can rain at any time so having reserve days may not have resolved the challenge that the poor weather poses. There are reserve days for the semi-final and final – but no one wants to see the final played on Monday 15th July.

Fortunately, for the organisers and fans, the mega match between India and Pakistan was played although rain affected and the dreaded Duckworth Lewis Stern method came into play and Pakistan ended over 80 runs short of the Indian total. There was a potential global audience of 1 billion tv viewers and over 700,ooo ticket applications – the atmosphere was fantastic with plenty of national flags and super fans on display.

The debate continues over the number of teams playing and why some of the lower ranked team are not in attendance. Imagine if there were top 14 ranked teams – we would then see the likes of Ireland, Scotland, Zimbabwe and Nepal competing. Is there any value in having these games? If we could ask the players of the Thai women’s football team how they felt as they conceded the 13th goal in the Women’s Football World Cup against the USA – what would they say?

Back in 2007, the tournament was hosted in the Caribbean for the first time. There were 16 teams present so the likes of Canada, Netherlands, Kenya and Bermuda qualifying. Would the presence of these national teams develop cricket in their countries ? Well a mere 12 years later, neither of these sides are in the top 14 ranked sides. There were grumblings that the quantity of sides was not adding to the value of the tournament.

Cricket needs to expand and develop – but has it reached a stagnation point? Maybe not – just look at Afghanistan. They were admitted into the ICC in 2001 and were elected as an affiliate member of the ICC in 2008, followed by Associate membership in 2014. In 2015, they qualified for the ICC World Cup . They have also qualified for the ICC World Twenty20 qualifier on four consecutive occasions, and participated in ICC World Twenty20 three times. The Afghanistan national cricket team earned official One Day International status in April 2009.

Today cricket is the most popular sport in Afghanistan and the development of the sport has had significant interest increase due to the quick progress of the Afghanistan Cricket Team in the international arena.