The International Cricket Council (ICC) is reportedly considering decreasing the number of teams in the 2027 ODI World Cup from 14 to 12, raising concerns among Associate nations.
The development comes as the future of the 50-over format is still being contested. While the ICC has allegedly rejected plans to shorten One-Day Internationals to 40 overs, debate over the number of teams participating in the next World Cup has gathered traction.
According to Tristan Lavalette, the ICC is considering returning to a 12-team World Cup, despite earlier promising in 2021 that future tournaments would have 14 teams.
South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Namibia will jointly host the 2027 World Cup. As hosts, South Africa and Zimbabwe are likely to qualify automatically. However, Namibia’s presence in the tournament is not guaranteed if the number of participating teams is reduced, forcing them to go through the qualification procedure.
Several Associate nations, including Nepal, the United States, Oman, the United Arab Emirates, and Canada, have expressed worry about the planned move, which might make it substantially more difficult to get a World Cup berth.
The prospect of downsizing the competition has not gone over well with the Associate cricket fraternity, with one top administrator fiercely opposing the idea.
“It would be horrible if that occurred. Cricket has taken another step back after it appeared to be making progress,” a senior official in Associate cricket told Cricket Financial Journal.
The comments reflect rising dissatisfaction among emerging cricket nations, especially since the ICC had previously promised to enlarging the competition to provide more opportunities for developing teams on the world stage.
According to reports, the suggestion was discussed during the ICC conference in Edinburgh. However, the governing body has not publicly stated the reasons for the discussions, and the breadth of the plan is unclear.
Under the current qualification process, the top eight teams in the ICC ODI rankings, together with hosts South Africa and Zimbabwe, will qualify straight for the 2027 World Cup. Any reduction in the number of participating teams would result in fewer qualification berths, making the path to the World Cup much more difficult for Associate nations.
With the tournament still more than a year away, it remains to be seen if the ICC will implement the suggested alteration or stick with the already announced 14-team structure.
