On the second day of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 we witnessed two minnows being completely annihilated by the strong teams. Kenya were bundled out for 69 against New Zealand and Canada lost to Sri Lanka by a margin of over 200 runs. Kenya is a team that has reached a World Cup semi final and seeing their performance not just today but even that in the last World Cup made me ponder as to what went wrong.
The inclusion of minnows in major ICC tournaments has always caused controversy. Since the 1996 World Cup, the minnows have been a regular feature in the signature event. They have come to the biggest stage to become a part of World Cricket and to take their game to the next level. The ICC is of the opinion that participation in the World Cup will help these teams in development and elevation to a new status. However, I do not think it is the right move.
When I say that making the minnows play in the World Cup is not the right move for their development is not the right move, I do not say that these teams should not participate in the big tournament. The ICC has to review its strategy of trying to involve the associate teams with the test playing nations. The ICC is now floating the idea of a 10 nation world cup in 2015 and I somehow think it would do more harm than good.
When Graeme Swann said “I wouldn’t exclude the world from the World Cup” I felt it made a lot of sense. It is one big platform and any opportunity on it is worth its weight in gold. The associate nations surely know the value of these chances and do everything to perform. Some of the players from these associate nations get noticed at the World Cup and it leads to them being picked by county sides or maybe even IPL teams in the future.
The strategy that ICC adopts of playing the associates only in the World Cup is wrong. If you want these teams to develop then you have to make them play more often with the major nations. One or two ODI’s here and there would not help their development. Let us take the example of Kenya and Bangladesh to start with and analyze their fall and rise respectively.
When Kenya burst on to the scene in the year 1996 they looked like a team that had come to enjoy their cricket. Kenya were a team that was the most capable amongst the minnows to produce an upset. The West Indies team of the 1996 World Cup would bear testament to that fact. They played a few tournaments here and there till the 1999 World Cup with some success in a tri nation tournament in India in 1998. They featured in the 1999 World Cup and were beaten in all the games. The story after this World Cup was similar as they continued to play a few tournaments here and there. They managed to beat India in an ODI at Port Elizabeth in 2001 which was one of their biggest success in this time period.
Then came the 2003 World Cup considered the finest hour in Kenyan cricket. They reached the semi finals and beat three test playing nations along the way. Even when they lost games they were competitive most of the times. This was a very encouraging sign and it looked like the Kenyan team was building. They looked to play more matches and were even eying test status. However, things changed and between the 2003 and the 2007 World Cups they played against the major teams in only two tournaments. The first being the Cherry Blossom Cup at Sharjah immediately after the 2003 World Cup and the ICC Champions Trophy 2004. They have played most of their matches against the other associates in this period. From 1996 to 2003 they played around 60 to 70 ODI’s mostly against the full members of the ICC and the result was their performance in the 2003 World Cup. Since then they have played almost double that number and almost all of them against the associate members. This is where the fairytale turned to tragedy for Kenya.
When a team has reached a semi final you do not take them very lightly but in fact they are to be taken very seriously. Kenya should have been played to play a lot more against the full members to get more exposure and take their game to the next level. It would have helped them as the youngsters coming into the national side would have got used to international cricket. Right now Kenya’s major problem is that youngsters do not have enough exposure to the big stage and are looking all at sea. The 2003 side was full of players who had played international cricket for quite some time. The core of the 1996 team was still there along with youngsters which provided them a right blend for their success. After 2003, it was almost as if Kenya was isolated from international cricket and called up just once or twice to fill up the numbers. When I look at the Kenyan team today I feel that players like Tikolo, Odoyo, Ongondo, Kamande and the Obuya brothers could have played a lot more quality cricket and made a bigger name for them.
In contrast, there is Bangladesh. Bangladesh made their ODI debut in the 1986 Asia Cup and since then featured in some tournaments in the sub continent till the 1999 World Cup. In the 1999 World Cup, the Bangladesh Team were beaten by all teams except Pakistan. Their stunning victory over Pakistan renewed their hopes of playing ODI cricket regularly. The next year they found themselves amongst the big boys when they played their first test against India. That one victory helped create Bangladesh cricket and today they are the most feared giant killers. They aren’t a top team as I have mentioned in an earlier post but they are no minnows. They can beat any team on a given day if they perform to their ability.
The Bangladesh team evolved in ODI cricket because they were given many chances to play the big boys of international cricket. They have regularly featured in the Asia Cup and have hosted almost all the teams on their home turf. The number of ODI’s played by them against the big teams is a lot more than what Kenya have played in the recent years. This has led to their development and evolution as a team. Today, they can say that they have some real world class players like Tamim Iqbal, Shakib Al Hassan and Abdur Razzak.
When you look at Kenya and Bangladesh you see that it is a classic case of what to do and what not to do. If ICC needs a model as to how a minnow team can be made competitive they have Bangladesh before them. They have the example of Kenya of 2003 as well to show these teams can perform.
Now, ICC has to ensure that what happened with Kenya doesn’t happen with other associate teams. Teams like Ireland and Scotland host one off ODI’s on their home turf in the summers but that is not good enough. These teams need to play more games against the full members to learn the nuances of international cricket. If that is done, then the generations of cricketers to come from these countries will get the right atmosphere to blossom. If ICC wants the game to reach all parts of the World they have to create more teams like Bangladesh. To conclude, I will say, apart from the World Cup these teams should play more ODI games so that one day teams like Canada, Ireland, Kenya etc can compete at the highest level.
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