Combined Team

Ireland giving South Africa a run for their money is one of the biggest news so far with regard to the warm up games for the World Cup. This shows that minnows if they are given the right assistance could be capable of taking on the best in the world. The ICC instead of giving them a handful of ODIs for the four year period that they have the status after the ICC Trophy can actually draw a well structured plan where they should be playing a minimum of 30 matches not only among themselves, but they should atleast get 7 to 10 games against test nations. Only this would make them better. Another thing is like how the West Indies is made up of many small island nations, they can have a European XI (excluding England), an African XI (excluding South Africa) and an Americas XI (Canada, Bermuda and USA). Though logistics could be tough but in reality this would be the most logical way for these nations to not only improve but also play as a competitive side. The European side can have players from Scotland, Ireland, Netherlands, Denmark and some other highly talented players from other Associate teams. Imagine an African side with the best players from Zimbabwe, Kenya, Namibia and Uganda. They will be highly competitive and could beat half the test sides’ atleast in ODIs. This would reduce the number of teams playing in the World Cup and it would also improve the game in these nations as the places will be limited and competition for them will increase. This would be an amazing European XI; I decided to include Ed Joyce though he plays for England now. The final XI - Ed Joyce (C), William Porterfield, Bas Zuiderent, Eoin Morgan, Ryan Watson, Gavin Hamilton, Ryan ten Doeschate, Niall O'Brien (WK), Amjad Khan, Dougie Brown and John Blain.