Cricket:The possibility of Ireland taking part in the 2015 Cricket World Cup took a step forward today after the first stage of the International Cricket Council's annual conference recommended that a qualification process be undertaken for the event in Australia and New Zealand. .
The first two days of the conference in Hong Kong were taken up with a meeting of the Chief Executives’ Committee (CEC), which included Cricket Ireland’s Warren Deutrom, and they agreed that there should be a qualification process for the event.
The recommendation will be put forward to the ICC’s executive board, who will meet over the next two days where a final decision will be taken.
The executive board drew widespread criticism after deciding at a meeting in India in April to limit the 2015 event to just the 10 full-member countries, effectively ostracising the other 95 members of the ICC. This year’s event comprised of 14 teams.
The outcry, which included prominent present and former international cricketers, prompted ICC president Sharad Pawar to call for a review. The ICC’s influential Cricket Committee, which included Ireland’s Trent Johnston, also voted in favour of a return to a qualification route to the event.
An ICC statement issued today read: “The CEC recommended that there should be a qualification process for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 but did not make a recommendation to the ICC executive board on the number of teams that should compete in the event to be held in Australia and New Zealand.”