The International Cricket Council president Sharad Pawar has requested the members of the Executive Board to review the decision about having only 10 teams for the 2015 edition of the World Cup that will be held in Australia and New Zealand.
A media release issued by the ICC stated that the ICC Executive Board will be requested to reconsider the composition of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 during the ICC Annual Conference in Hong Kong.
At the recent ICC Executive Board meeting in Mumbai on April 4, the Board decided to allow only the 10 Full Members to participate in the ICC Cricket World Cup in 2015.
However, after receiving representations from the Associate and Affiliate Members of the ICC, the ICC President Pawar has decided to request the Executive Board to revisit the issue.
"I have given this matter further serious thought and will request the Board to consider this topic once more. I can understand the views of the Associates and Affiliates and ICC will seek to deal with this issue in the best way possible,"
Pawar was quoted as saying in the media release. The Board had also confirmed its previous decision made in October 2010 that the next two World Cups (in 2015 and
2019) would comprise 10 teams.
According to the release these decisions were part of a strategic restructure of ICC events and the context and content for international cricket.
As part of the restructure, a Test play-off for the top four teams was introduced and the ICC World Twenty20 was expanded to 16 teams.
The executive board had also agreed in Mumbai that the 10 teams for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 in England would be determined on the basis of qualification.
