WARREN DEUTROM, THE chief executive of Cricket Ireland, has welcomed the ICC’s decision to allow four Associate members to take part in the 2015 World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.
Speaking from Hong Kong, where the ICC’s annual conference is taking place, Deutrom told TheScore of his relief at a decision that offers the Irish a chance to qualify for the tournament in four years’ time.
“To say I’m jubilant would be overstating the fact, really,” revealed Deutrom. “There is a definite sense of relief at the decision. It has been a busy day, with lots of talking, but we’ve got what we hoped for.”
The ICC had originally announced a decision to limit participation in the next World Cup to its ten Full Members, meaning that Ireland were to be denied the chance to even enter a qualification process for the event.
Certain Associate members felt that the decision to revert to a 14-team structure was made to build support for the final major issue being discussed at the conference – the scrapping of the rotation policy for the appointment of the ICC president. It was felt that, by increasing the number of teams participating in the World Cup, the motion would be passed by a ‘placated’ Associate membership.
Deutrom, however, was not of that opinion and put the decision down to a much simpler factor – the groundswell of popular opinion against the exclusion of Associate members.
“There was no doubt about the depth of feeling against the original decision,” he said. “I wasn’t involved in any discussions about the appointment of a new president and I certainly wouldn’t draw a line between that and the decision that was made today.
“One would like to think it was made on its merits alone,” he added.
Deutrom’s focus is now on Ireland’s quest to become one of the participating teams in 2015. When asked about the team’s chances, and whether he was confident of seeing a repeat of scenes similar to Ireland’s famous win over England in Bangalore last March, he was remaining somewhat cautious.
“We prefer not to describe it as confidence, which can often be confused with arrogance, but we do approach the qualification process with immense self belief. We’re just happy we can get down to the serious business of trying to qualify.”
