2019 "World" Cup Shamblefier - Scotland robbed again, no Associates at World Cup for first time ever

[The Speaker]

To the ICC's shame, the 2019 World Cup is limited to ten teams, eight of which have already been decided. This World Cup shrinkage owes itself to Bangladesh and Ireland daring to knock India and Pakistan out in the group stages in 2007, forcing the ICC to figure out the best way to make as many unimportant games to be played between as few teams as possible.

The eight automatically qualified teams include Sri Lanka, who would probably lose to most of the teams in the Qualifier if given the chance. But that's how it is.

The remaining two World Cup spots are up for grabs at these qualifiers, more than a year out from the actual tournament, and there are ten teams in the running, divided into two groups.

Group A - Harare
West Indies
Ireland
Netherlands
Papua New Guinea
United Arab Emirates

Group B - Bulawayo
Zimbabwe
Afghanistan
Scotland
Hong Kong
Nepal
​

Every team will play one match against their group members in a round robin. The top three from each group will then play each other in another round robin, though not against teams that were in their own group. The top two teams will then play each other in the final, but both will be counted as the qualifiers and will go through to the World Cup in England.

WCL Division Two will be played in February between the UAE, Kenya, Nepal, Namibia, Canada and Oman. The top two in that division will fill out the remaining spots in the Qualifier. Namibia have experience and are playing at home, and could be considered one of the favourites to get through to the Qualifier. However, the teams do make it through are likely to finish at the bottom of their group, both of which contain tough competition.

Squads

Afghanistan
Javed Ahmadi
Sharafuddin Ashraf
Nasir Jamal
Ihsanullah Janat
Rashid Khan
Mohammad Nabi
Guldabin Naib
Rahmat Shah
Mohammad Shahzad
Samiullah Shenwari
Asghar Stanikzai*
Dawlat Zadran
Mujeeb Zadran
Najibullah Zadran
Shapoor Zadran

Hong Kong
Tanwir Afzal
Nadeem Ahmed
Tanveer Ahmed
Waqas Barkat
C Carter
Babar Hayat*
Aizaz Khan
Ehsan Khan
Nizakat Khan
SS McKechnie
Ehsan Nawaz
Kinchit Shah
Simandeep Singh
Anshuman Rath
Shahid Wasif

Ireland
A Balbirnie
PKD Chase
GH Dockrell
EC Joyce
AR McBrine
BJ McCarthy
TJ Murtagh
KJ O'Brien
NJ O'Brien
WTS Porterfield*
WB Rankin
JNK Shannon
Simi Singh
PR Stirling
GC Wilson

Nepal
DS Airee
LS Bhandari
SP Gauchan
Sompal Kami
Karan KC
P Khadka*
S Lamichhane
G Malla
D Nath
RK Paudel
LN Rajbanshi
B Regmi
AK Sah
A Sheikh
S Vesawkar

Netherlands
W Baressi
PW Borren*
BN Cooper
RN ten Doeschate
T van der Gugten
VJ Kingma
FJ Klaassen
BFW de Leede
PA van Meekeren
RE van der Merwe
MP O'Dowd
S Snater
PM Seelaar
Sikander Zulfiqar

Papua New Guinea
CR Amini
S Bau
MD Dai
K Doriga
J Kila
VV Morea
A Nao
D Ravu
JB Reva
L Siaka
CA Soper
TP Ura
A Vala*
N Vanua
JNT Vare

Scotland
RD Berrington
KJ Coetzer*
MH Cross
AC Evans
MA Jones
MA Leask
CS MacLeod
HG Munsey
SM Sharif
CB Sole
TB Sole
CD Wallace
MRJ Watt
BTJ Wheal
S Whittingham

United Arab Emirates
Ashfaq Ahmed
Qadeer Ahmed
Shaiman Anwar
Mohammad Boota
Imran Haider
Amir Hayat
Zahoor Khan
Adnan Mufti
Rohan Mustafa*
Mohammad Naveed
Ahmed Raza
Ghulam Shabber
Rameez Shahzad
Chirag Suri
Muhammad Usman

West Indies
D Bishoo
CR Brathwaite
SS Cottrell
CH Gayle
SO Hetmeyer
JO Holder*
SD Hope
E Lewis
NO Miller
JN Mohammed
AR Nurse
R Powell
KAJ Roach
MN Samuels
KOK Williams

Zimbabwe
TL Chatara
TS Chisoro
AG Cremer*
CR Ervine
KM Jarvis
H Masakadza
SF Mire
PJ Moor
B Muzarabani
Sikandar Raza
BRM Taylor
BV Vitori
MN Waller
SC Williams
C Zhuwao
​

Preview: https://www.bigfooty.com/forum/thre...2018-in-zimbabwe.1185417/page-4#post-54442740

 

[The_Reaper]

Laughable that Sri Lanka get automatic qualification.

 

[Gough]

Pretty much the only game in the world seeking to shrink it's base rather than expand it. F***ing crazy.

 

[kickazz]

I always looked forward to watching the associates at the world cups. Made things interesting; a few massive scores, a few upsets. Especially fun in fantasy comps.

They've taken away one of the great things about the WC just for greed's sake. Ever since the Aus Eng Ind triumvurate took over cricket it's complement list any semblence of vision.

 

[Tallest]

Im on the Hong Kong bandwagon

 

[Drugs Are Bad Mackay?]

Ideally all nations would have to qualify for the world cup. Home and away qualifiers between nations would actually become big events - part of the World Cup Show - like the Socceroos matches.

The game can't afford India, Australia or England to miss out though which leads to this compromised situation.

 

[big_e]

Ideally all nations would have to qualify for the world cup. Home and away qualifiers between nations would actually become big events - part of the World Cup Show - like the Socceroos matches.

The game can't afford India, Australia or England to miss out though which leads to this compromised situation.

And the best way of avoiding that problem is to grow the game to the point they don't have to rely on three countries.

 

[Drugs Are Bad Mackay?]

And the best way of avoiding that problem is to grow the game to the point they don't have to rely on three countries.

Absolutely.

If there were qualifying rounds where India, Australia, England etc had to legitimately travel and play in these fledgling countries it would be great for them. See the champion teams up close. Or maybe even have a famous moment like Aus vs Iran in the soccer that lights the fuse.

 

[Hellgood]

I always looked forward to watching the associates at the world cups. Made things interesting; a few massive scores, a few upsets. Especially fun in fantasy comps.

They've taken away one of the great things about the WC just for greed's sake. Ever since the Aus Eng Ind triumvurate took over cricket it's complement list any semblence of vision.

Not sure if you've been following cricketing news lately, but this was the case back in 2014. SInce then though there has been some pretty significant changes in the balance of power at the ICC with there being some positive signs that are more holistic view is being taken. Was too late to roll back this decision though.

 

[KangarooUnicorn]

Ideally all nations would have to qualify for the world cup. Home and away qualifiers between nations would actually become big events - part of the World Cup Show - like the Socceroos matches.

The game can't afford India, Australia or England to miss out though which leads to this compromised situation.

I would also like to see a proper World Cup Qualification tournament open to all nations similar to Soccer. There is no reason why this couldn't at least be tested with the T20 format? There are probably enough nations playing this version of cricket that it could be viable.

 

[KangarooUnicorn]

Afghanistan and the Windies would be my tip to qualify.

 

[Smoooothy]

windies have to qualify yet sri lanka doesn't? probably been done to death, but wtf..

 

[The Speaker]

windies have to qualify yet sri lanka doesn't? probably been done to death, but wtf..

SL are ranked 8th, Windies ranked 9th.

 

[Smoooothy]

SL are ranked 8th, Windies ranked 9th.

I see. makes sense

 

[Marklar_33]

Well, let’s hope the Windies manage to get rolled in this tournament (sorry PhatBoy). I’m a massive advocate of associates in World tournaments, although if the West Indies do miss out, this may be the last WCQ we see

 

[The Speaker]

Well, let’s hope the Windies manage to get rolled in this tournament (sorry PhatBoy). I’m a massive advocate of associates in World tournaments, although if the West Indies do miss out, this may be the last WCQ we see

If they miss out it may mean the end of the Windies and the confirmation that they need to expand the WC in 2023.

 

[Marklar_33]

I’m giving the Dutch a sneaky chance at qualification over WI and Ireland

 

[The Speaker]

I’m giving the Dutch a sneaky chance at qualification over WI and Ireland

I'll be waiting until I see the squads.

 

[Marklar_33]

I'll be waiting until I see the squads.

Waiting on some Coopers and a ten Doeschate?

 

[The Speaker]

Waiting on some Coopers and a ten Doeschate?

Ryan Campbell mentioned he'd be doing the ringaround to get as many quality players as possible in the tournament, which makes sense given how valuable it is to whoever wins. RtD has already played a match for them recently, so I imagine he'll be in.

 

[Marklar_33]

Ryan Campbell mentioned he'd be doing the ringaround to get as many quality players as possible in the tournament, which makes sense given how valuable it is to whoever wins. RtD has already played a match for them recently, so I imagine he'll be in.

Does Tom Cooper even play Shield any more? I’d be all over a chance at World Cup cricket if I was no hope any other way

 

[Van_Dyke]

Does Tom Cooper even play Shield any more? I’d be all over a chance at World Cup cricket if I was no hope any other way

Yeah he does a bit, but iirc has had a poor year, certinaly not guaranteed of a game these days

 

[PhatBoy]

If they miss out it may mean the end of the Windies and the confirmation that they need to expand the WC in 2023.

They’ve won as many away tests in 2017 as the world number 1 team has won in about 6 years if you exclude their trips to Sri Lanka and Bangladesh so that might be a tad extreme

 

[The Speaker]

They’ve won as many away tests in 2017 as the world number 1 team has won in about 6 years if you exclude their trips to Sri Lanka and Bangladesh so that might be a tad extreme

Not really. How much lower can you go than missing out on the World Cup?

 

[PhatBoy]

Not really. How much lower can you go than missing out on the World Cup?

It’s one day cricket. Clearly I’d be f***ing disappointed if they missed it but if I have a choice between building a semi-competitive Test unit, which they are, and having a terrible odi unit, compared with having a s**t test side with no hope and a decent odi outfit, I know what I’d choose.