{"id":17432,"date":"2019-06-14T23:50:03","date_gmt":"2019-06-14T22:50:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportsgazette.co.uk\/?p=17432"},"modified":"2019-06-15T01:12:34","modified_gmt":"2019-06-15T00:12:34","slug":"crickets-associate-nation-conundrum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportsgazette.co.uk\/crickets-associate-nation-conundrum\/","title":{"rendered":"Cricket’s Associate Nation Conundrum"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Cricket World Cup 2019 is underway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Somewhat predictably, the Great British Summer is keeping\nthe groundsmen busy as the tournament looks to gather some momentum after a\nstop-start few weeks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course, one of the leading storylines heading into the\nsummer was that of the wholesale changes made to the competition\u2019s structure.\nWith the number of teams involved in the strikingly perpetual round-robin stage\nreduced to 10 (down from 14 in 2015), the lack of opportunity for associate\nnations has been a controversial bi-product.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The World Cup has oft provided a platform for smaller\ncricketing nations to disprove their minnow moniker and make their mark on the\nworld stage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, with the International Cricket Council (ICC) taking\nsteps to bypass blowout fixtures and ensure every game is competitive, the\nassociate nations have lost one of their most marked opportunities to prove\ntheir worth and expand their yearly cricketing schedules.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If we are to truly see the development of associate sides,\nsuch as Bangladesh\u2019s rise since the 1990s, the ICC\u2019s changes can only be seen\nas a backwards step \u2013 a view affirmed by the great Sachin Tendulkar, who\nrecently and publicly bemoaned the tournament\u2019s hindrance in globalizing the\ngame.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Scotland are one such nation who missed out at this World\nCup, narrowly losing out in qualifying to the West Indies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For a more than capable side who stunningly beat World Cup\nfavourites England at the Grange just last year, it is a hammer blow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Scotland are an associate nation with One Day International\n(ODI) status since 2018, following their strong performance in World Cup\nqualifying, yet their yearly schedule is positively barren in comparison to the\ntest-playing, full member nations of the ICC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Given the severe lack of playing opportunities, there is\nsurely a ripple effect in failing to attract young talent to the national side.\nExactly how much motivation can young and exciting prospects have to pursue\ncricket full time?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oli Hairs is one batsman on the fringes of the Scotland\nteam, currently maximising his opportunities with Scotland A in order to gain\nconsideration for selection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Oli Hairs goes to 100 for the Eastern Knights in Scotland<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Having played five ODI\u2019s for Scotland in 2010, this is his\nsecond push for playing time with the first team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLooking back, I was way too young and didn\u2019t really know my\ngame well enough at that level \u2013 I got a couple of twenties but that was really\nabout it,\u201d he recalled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWith an associate nation, there are not many games and\nfixtures \u2013 there\u2019s even less now because the Pro40 isn\u2019t a thing and Scotland\nhave lost that domestic involvement with the county sides.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBack when I played my first game, I was still at school.\nProfessional cricket was always the plan, but work and university ultimately\ngot in the way.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now in his late twenties, Oli now counts himself lucky to be\nin a position where another shot at the Scotland side is not the be all and end\nall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen I was 18, my mindset was very much \u2018this is what I\nhave to do\u2019.  Whereas now, I\u2019m just going\nout and enjoying it \u2013 if it happens it happens, I\u2019m just giving myself the\nopportunity to get noticed and potentially selected.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Given the further reduction of World Cup participants, Oli\nbelieves the motivation for the associate nation prospects coming through the\nranks lies in franchise T20 cricket.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A new franchise tournament called The European T20,\ninvolving two sides from each of Ireland, Scotland and the Netherlands will\nkick off at the end of August.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWith the World Cup being shortened, the number of teams\nhave dropped and it does really limit the cricket available to us,\u201d Oli pointed\nout.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHowever, with the new European T20, the six sides will\nparticipate in 30 games in 3 weeks before the finals \u2013 it will be similar in\nset up to Australia\u2019s Big Bash and the Indian Premier League.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Each squad for this new competition will have nine homegrown\nplayers as well as six overseas participants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Franchise cricket holds the key to many associate nation players’ future<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Oli sees the tournament as a great opportunity for homegrown\nassociate players to get their name out there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI know Brendon McCullum and Shane Watson are involved\nalready and a load of others \u2013 hopefully making your name alongside those stars\nwill open up a few doors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey have announced a ten-year deal so it\u2019s pleasing to see\nthis franchise set up is in it for the long haul. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAll of it will be either televised or streamed online as\nwell, so if you do well there\u2019s ample opportunity to get yourself noticed and\nsubsequently selected.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 2019 World Cup will last 46 days, three more than the\n2015 edition, despite the reduced number of teams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A traditionally long and at times exhaustive tournament has\nalways raised questions over the most appropriate competition structure to\nimplement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet the sad truth of the matter is that we are not likely to\nsee a consistent growth in competitive cricketing nations, if the ICC continue\nto drop the ball.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Cricket World Cup 2019 is underway. Somewhat predictably, the Great British Summer is keeping the groundsmen busy as the tournament looks to gather some momentum after a stop-start few weeks. Of course, one of the leading storylines heading into the summer was that of the wholesale changes made to the competition\u2019s structure. With the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":38,"featured_media":17433,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[44],"tags":[1920,1993,1635],"ppma_author":[4146],"yoast_head":"\nCricket's Associate Nation Conundrum - Sports Gazette<\/title>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sportsgazette.co.uk\/crickets-associate-nation-conundrum\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Cricket's Associate Nation Conundrum - Sports Gazette\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Cricket World Cup 2019 is underway. Somewhat predictably, the Great British Summer is keeping the groundsmen busy as the tournament looks to gather some momentum after a stop-start few weeks. Of course, one of the leading storylines heading into the summer was that of the wholesale changes made to the competition\u2019s structure. 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You will likely find him tweeting propaganda for squash\u2019s inclusion as an Olympic sport at anyone who will listen."}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportsgazette.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17432"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportsgazette.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportsgazette.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsgazette.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/38"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsgazette.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17432"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sportsgazette.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17432\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17437,"href":"https:\/\/sportsgazette.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17432\/revisions\/17437"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsgazette.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17433"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportsgazette.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17432"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsgazette.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17432"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsgazette.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17432"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsgazette.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=17432"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}