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Still "a long way to go" in Ireland's Cricket World Cup struggle, says Deutrom

Cricket Ireland Chief Executive welcomes ICC decision to reopen discussions on the format of the 2015 tournament.

CRICKET IRELAND HAVE greeted this morning’s ICC decision to reopen discussions on the format of the 2015 Cricket World Cup with cautious optimism, with Chief Executive Warren Deutrom saying that “there is still a long way to go” before the issue is resolved.

Earlier this month, the sport’s global governing authority stipulated that the next World Cup would only be contested by the ten test-playing nations, leaving Ireland and 94 other countries out in the cold.

However, a statement released by the ICC this morning stated that “after receiving representations from the Associate and Affiliate Members of the ICC, the ICC President Mr Sharad Pawar has decided to request the ICC Executive Board to revisit the issue in Hong Kong in June.”

Deutrom in particular had been one of the most vocal critics of the body’s initial decision, describing it to TheScore.ie as “a complete travesty which flies in the face of every equitable sporting principle.”

Speaking to the Press Association this afternoon, he described the ICC’s about-face as “encouraging” but reiterated that the Hong Kong discussions was likely to be “the same 10 people having the same debate about the same issue.”

In conjunction with the other non-test playing nations, Cricket Ireland have requested that they be allowed to engage in any further discussions on the format of the 2015 competition and future tournaments, Deutrom explained.

We [the non-test playing nations] have asked to assist in that process and requested for our elected representatives to meet the ICC president and/or the vice-president to put our case, so that they can see the strength of our resolve on this matter.

Commenting on the reasons which might have encouraged the ICC to rethink their stance on the matter, Deutrom said the outrage of both the media and the public had convinced the ICC of the seriousness of the issue among cricket fans and non-cricket fans alike.

[caption id="attachment_123906" align="aligncenter" width="390" caption="Warren Deutrom: "The depth of reaction has demonstrated that they neglected to consider their duty to the sport as a whole.""][/caption]

“The depth of reaction has demonstrated that they neglected to consider their duty to the sport as a whole,” he said.

“It’s a shame that it takes global condemnation and a damaged reputation to revisit the decision but the board clearly did not exercise its responsibility to the vast majority of the cricketing public.”

There is a long way to go and it is down to how much momentum can be kept up, either through the media or through the public, who have been strong and unanimous in their views.

ICC will reconsider decision to exclude Ireland from 2015 World Cup >