Last Updated on 9 months ago by Charbel Coorey

24th of March, 2018. Day three of the third Test between South Africa and Australia in Cape Town. Cameron Bancroft is caught with sandpaper on camera, and panics. Steve Smith and Cameron Bancroft admit to cheating. A dark day in cricket.

We’ve all had our say on the issue, and the Australian media has been so pathetic and disgusting that not even a player with his wife and kids at Sydney airport could stop their blatant harassment. The fallout has been huge, with Steve Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft all copping big bans, and Darren Lehmann resigning as coach.

Cheating is always sad for cricket, but the bans, harsh as they may be, is a warning for all cricketers in Australia, as well as around the world that ball tampering is a serious issue. However, in terms of the long term future of cricket, there is something more disappointing happening that deserves more focus.

On the day following the ball tampering scandal, Afghanistan played West Indies in the final of a tournament that broke the hearts of many players and fans around the world. “I’m not just saying that because we didn’t get there, but I feel sorry for a lot of countries that are leaving here (Zimbabwe) that don’t know what’s going to happen next week.” The words of Ireland captain William Porterfield, whose side will miss their first World Cup since 2003.

For me, the ICC’s decision to reduce the World Cup to ten teams is the saddest thing in World Cricket right now. Many players and nations who are so passionate about our great game left Zimbabwe facing uncertain cricketing futures. All the while the ICC made it as if they cared about the tournament, with their coverage on social media (with mistakes, too). How on earth do you grow our great game with such short-sighted decision making, with thoughts only on filling your pockets?

“Guys are shattered in the changing rooms”, says now former Zimbabwe captain Graeme Cremer. The fallout in Zimbabwe has been massive, with all coaching staff sacked, as well as Cremer stood down from the captaincy, after failing to qualify for the tournament. What is the ICC’s reaction to this? Do they care? Zimbabwe will be set back years in terms of funding, fixtures and sponsorship as a result of their failure to qualify for a joke of a “World” Cup, and leaves talented cricketers like Sikandar Raza not even caring about a great award. “Certainly not happy at all” said Raza, after receiving the player of the tournament award. “This trophy is a painful reminder of the dreams that we had, of the 15 million dreams we crushed.”

“When I started playing cricket, I thought it was to unite countries, players of different backgrounds coming together to play this beautiful sport. Unfortunately, you’ll see that’s not going to happen in next year’s World Cup. It’s certainly quite a tough pill to swallow. This trophy will also serve as a reminder that Peter Borren and his Dutch players, Kyle Coetzer and his Scottish players, Rohan Mustafa and his UAE players, and all the other countries that came and couldn’t make it to the World Cup.”

Do Zimbabwe deserve this, ICC? What’s worse is that Zimbabwe were absolutely superb throughout this tournament, yet the nature of the tournament meant that any tiny slip up or rain could mean you miss the World Cup. Tell me how will we grow our game with such idiots in charge? Why isn’t there more of an emphasis on giving Zimbabwe and our associate nations more opportunities for matches in the four year window between World Cups? Can’t short term revenue be put to the side for a little while to focus on long term growth?

The tournament was fantastic, with such competitive cricket between ten World Cup hopefuls. However, the last thing the rubbish ICC should do is gloat about how good it was. The tournament did not show that the ICC got things right. It showed they got things drastically wrong.

Scotland were another team that faced a heartbreaking exit in this tournament, falling by five runs in the D/L method against a West Indies team that is so poor that we’re all almost certain that most teams in this qualifying tournament would have fared better in the 2019 WC. The ICC decided these teams aren’t important enough to have all matches televised with DRS. A poor LBW decision in Scotland’s final game was critical to the result. Captain Kyle Coetzer also criticised the ICC with a very emotional response. “They won the game fair and square in the end, but a competition like this… DRS? You’re playing with people’s livelihoods and there’s a lot of money at stake, and it proved costly today.”

If you think the ICC care with their tweets, think again. Cricket Scotland are set to lose a reported AU$1.3 million, with CEO Malcolm Cannon stating that player contracts would have to be cut down as result. How incredibly sad. Passionate cricketers and their fans with such a love for the game pushed to the side by the ICC, all for the gratification of their incredible greed and endless pockets.

All the other teams also face an uncertain future. Nepal gained ODI status, and was “celebrated” by the ICC, but what exposure will they really get? What about Papua New Guinea who picked up a victory? What about Hong Kong, who lost their ODI status, and UAE, who managed to retain it? What about Netherlands? So many questions unanswered, so many worries.

All the ICC has ensured is that the “World” Cup will be a joke. We are in very dangerous territory here, where the World Cup will no longer be the pinnacle of cricket, because our smaller cricketing nations are being disregarded. Congratulations to West Indies and Afghanistan for qualifying, but I certainly hope the ICC realises that the 2019 World Cup is not good for the game, and decides to go back to more teams for the 2023 edition, with the smaller nations receiving more exposure.

This is the saddest issue in world cricket right now.

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Thanks for reading!