Further boost to hopes of a Cup qualifier

CRICKET:THE POSSIBILITY of the International Cricket Council (ICC) revoking their decision not to hold a qualifying competition for the 2015 World Cup moved a step closer last night at the conclusion of a two-day meeting of the organisation's influential Cricket Committee at Lord's.

The 14 members of the committee, chaired by Clive Lloyd and which included Ireland all-rounder Trent Johnston representing the non full member nations, voted unanimously to recommend there be some sort of qualification process for the event to be held in Australia and New Zealand.

The committee’s role is to make recommendations on cricket matters which then go forward to the Chief Executives’ Committee (CEC) for approval before finally being presented to the ICC Executive Board for approval.

Both of those groupings will meet at the annual conference in Hong Kong at the end of June.

Johnston was delighted with the outcome and, speaking from London last night, he was hopeful the original decision, taken on April 4th, can be overturned.

“There were 25 points on the agenda and we got through all of them pretty well. There is probably one that I focused on, which was the Future Tours Programme, which led in then to the 2015 World Cup.

“To have that sort of unanimous support from those guys to put through that recommendation to the CEC was great,” said Johnston, who captained Ireland at the 2007 World Cup in the Caribbean.

The decision to limit the next World Cup to just the 10 full member countries was condemned around the cricketing world, with ICC president Sharad Pawar announcing on April 20th the issue would be brought up again in June.

Yesterday’s unanimous decision will add considerable weight to the argument to open up qualification and Johnston is delighted to have played his part.

“Every matter was discussed openly and if you had a view point you could put it forward. I spoke about my feelings and a lot of people backed them up. I just think a lot of things contradicted their decision. All that money that has been invested in the associates and affiliates, what good would that have been now if we can’t play in a World Cup?” Johnston asked.

“They probably realised from the public reaction that they were a bit hasty with their decision. But like all good governing bodies, if they are wrong, they are going to go back and revisit it. We certainly hope that is the case. All we have asked, and I was representing all the associates and affiliates, is that we want an opportunity to play in a World Cup.

“From Ireland’s perspective, we certainly think we’re good enough to qualify, even if there are two full members in that competition. Hopefully that decision will be made for the better of cricket.

“It was an eye-opening process for me and hopefully I helped us move a step closer to qualifying for 2015.

“That would be massive for me, to know that I’ve helped to give the boys an opportunity to play in another World Cup.”

Meanwhile, Niall O’Brien continued his fine start to the county season with an unbeaten 123 for Northamptonshire in their championship clash against Gloucestershire at Bristol yesterday.

Playing against the side his younger brother Kevin signed for on Tuesday, Niall brought up his tenth first-class ton off 124 balls in a knock that included 14 boundaries as he helped Northants finish day one of the encounter on 381 for six.

Merrion’s Ben Ackland was also in the runs, making 45 against Surrey for Cambridge at Fenner’s. The 21-year-old has been named in the southern squad for this Sunday’s Inter Regional Challenge.