Do We Need Minnows?

Michael Holding recently made a statement that having minnows in the World Cup are a waste of time. Well I would disagree, if cricket ever wants to compete on a global level, it should expand further and the ICC is doing a great job by promoting cricket in countries like Scotland, Ireland, Netherlands, Canada and Bermuda. The problem is that all the major test playing nations for the last 30 years failed to develop cricket in their neighboring countries. England had it helped out countries like Scotland, Ireland, Holland and Denmark some 50 years back, now these countries would have become a powerful force and some may have become test nations. Look at Nepal, at Under 19 level they are able to beat South Africa, but a club side from SA could trash their national team. India could possibly help them by making their national side play in Ranji Trophy and other events. One of the main reasons why Zimbabwe was pretty impressive during their early years was that, they used to play in the South African Domestic Tournaments. Now due to various political reasons, their side has become a joke, but just brings back the Flowers, Streak, Goodwin, Johnson and Price; they once again have a side capable of competing against the best of nations. It’s time the test nations start helping other smaller countries to develop their cricket programme otherwise in another 20 years cricket may just be played by the same old 8 nations.