Ireland skipper William Porterfield lashes out at ICC

Afghanistan qualified for the World Cup 2019 following five-wicket win over Ireland.

Ireland failed to find a spot at the 2019 World Cup | ICC

Ireland skipper –William Porterfield has lashed out at the International Cricket Council (ICC) for curtailing the teams for the World Cup, as the ICC cut the number of teams competing from 14 to 10 for the next edition of the mega event in England. The angry Irish skipper also questioned favoring nature of the cricket’s homebody, saying the ICC has an obsession with the "big cheque".

With Ireland’s five-wicket loss to Afghanistan in the virtual semi-finals of the World Qualifiers on Friday, Porterfield's team out of the 2019 World Cup contention as the ICC trimmed the World Cup to 10 teams.

Now, Afghanistan will join Australia, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, England, South Africa, West Indies and New Zealand in the next year’s mega ICC event in England and Wales.

As per AFP, fuming Porterfield told reporters, “How is there only two teams going (from the qualifiers) to a competition that's played every 208 weeks and you've got a six-week competition, to just play it so two or three big teams can play nine games on TV so the ICC can cash in with a big cheque, and a lot of teams are leaving here with nothing in their pocket."

He further added, “The big cheque they're getting from the World Cup has to be pushed back down through. All I hear is how good this competition has been, how everyone has beaten everyone, it's gone round in a circle. It has to be put back into the game because if countries don't have a World Cup to look forward to or the possibility of getting to the World Cup... if they actually give that carrot, dangle it in front of countries, surely cricket is going to get better in those countries and actually expand.”

Porterfield signed off by saying, “I'm not just saying that because we didn't get there but I feel sorry for a lot of countries that are leaving here that don't know what's going to happen next week.”

 

 
 

By Rashmi Nanda - 24 Mar, 2018

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