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NEWS UPDATE : Asian Cricket Third Sri Lanka-Pakistan ODI abandoned due to rain COLOMBO: The third One-day International between Sri Lanka and Pakistan was abandoned due to rain here at the R Premadasa Stadium on Wednesday. The umpires made this decision after consulting ... Australia want to master all forms of game: Clarke SYDNEY: Australia's limited-overs tour of England and Ireland represents the start of a two-year campaign to make them the top nation in all three forms of the game, captain Michael Clarke said ... Bopara glad to be back for England SOUTHAMPTON, England: Ravi Bopara is eager to make up for lost times as he tries to revive his ... South Africa name unchanged squad for England series JOHANNESBURG: South Africa have kept faith with a winning formula by naming an unchanged squad for the three-Test series in England starting next month, Cricket South Africa (CSA) announced on ...


Tuesday, April 05, 2011

Clarke supports retention of World minnows

Updated at: 1755 PST,  Monday, April 04, 2011
 SYDNEY: Australian captain Michael Clarke was at odds Monday with his predecessor Ricky Ponting over the International Cricket Council's moves to cut the number of teams at the 2015 World Cup.In an early sign of a divergence in captaincy styles with Ponting, Clarke spoke out in support of minnow nations, who would likely be axed if the tournament's size was reduced."I really enjoy seeing the minnow teams getting an opportunity to be honest, I guess it's up to the ICC to work out whatever they think is in the betterment of the game, obviously that's their priority," Clarke told reporters before the Australian team's departure for a short tour to Bangladesh.An ICC decision on the issue was expected to be made in Mumbai on Monday following a meeting of its executive board.Ponting called for fewer teams during this year's World Cup ahead of the ICC's decision on culling the number of countries from 14 to 10 for the next edition in Australia and New Zealand in four years time.Ponting, who stepped down as Australian captain last week, said in February that a balance had to be struck between encouraging the growth of the game and improving the quality of the World Cup competition.The World Cup format again has been criticised as tediously drawn out during the group stages, meaning it took six weeks to complete the 2011 event in India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.Clarke agreed that the structure could be improved, but said that shouldn't necessarily be at the expense of the developing countries, with Ireland most notably adding excitement to the recent World Cup, won by India on Saturday."The two World Cups I've been involved in have been fantastic," he said."It certainly does feel between games like you have a long period when you've got six or seven days between games, but I've enjoyed seeing all the minnow teams play."We've seen throughout this World Cup there was a few upsets where there was some great cricket played," he added.Ireland scored one of the biggest upsets in World Cup history when they toppled England with a superb run-chase last month, while the Irish also made the Super eight stage in 2007 when they beat Pakistan.The ICC presently has 10 full-member nations, meaning if the Cup was cut to 10 teams, the minnow countries such as Kenya, the Netherlands and Canada would struggle to qualify.