The International Cricket Council (ICC) has performed a U-turn on controversial plans to reduce the size of the Cricket World Cup after agreeing to allow four non-Test playing nations to participate in the next edition of the competition.The ICC originally planned to cut the list of participants to 10 “full member” nations, excluding “associates” such as Ireland, the Netherlands, Canada and Kenya, which all took part in the 14-team Cricket World Cup earlier this year. The governing body’s initial decision was made after criticism of the length of the 2011 tournament, which ran from February 19 to April 2 in Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka, but the ICC agreed to review its proposal after complaints from the lower-ranked nations.The ICC, which held its annual conference in Hong Kong, confirmed that four associate members will now take part in the tournament after a qualifying process. “The ICC executive board today reversed its previous decisions and approved a 14-team format for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 to be held in Australia and New Zealand and a 12-team format for the ICC World Twenty20 events in 2012 (Sri Lanka) and 2014 (Bangladesh),” read a statement from the ICC. The Twenty20 events were initially slated to include 16 teams, up from 12.The ICC also announced the 2019 World Cup would be a 10-team event, with the top eight places going to the top-ranked teams and two berths being awarded in a pre-qualifying tournament. Cricket Ireland CEO Warren Deutrom told AFP: “I suppose the immediate reaction is one of relief, and that we can all now divert our energies in the significantly more proactive pursuit of trying to qualify.”The board also approved a recommendation made by its chief executives' committee on Monday to make the controversial Umpire Decision Review System (DRS) mandatory in all Tests and one-day matches. Hot Spot, the “thermal imaging” technology now available and made mandatory in the DRS, will mostly be used for close catches and edges. On Wednesday, the ICC executive board is expected to discuss plans to scrap the ICC's two-year rotational presidency.
