Express News Service India
N Jagannath Das
1 March 2011
NAGPUR: Zimbabwe sports minister Senator David Coltart has criticized the International Cricket Council’s decision to reduce the teams from 14 to 10 and thereby disallowing the associate nations from playing in the 50-over World Cup in 2015. Zimbabwe’s participation is still doubtful as ICC have not yet decided on the tenth team for the edition. The nine Test countries have been guaranteed a direct entry while Zimbabwe, who no more have a Test status, may well have to play the qualifying matches.
The 53-year-old Coltart, who is here to watch the World Cup, is obviously concerned about ICC limiting the next World Cup to ten teams. “I think it is a negative move for the associate nations and also for Zimbabwe. We rely on World Cup revenues to boost our cricketing finances and also the morale of the players to keep them motivated and to have something to aim for. But by restricting the numbers, it is going to undermine cricket. It is a retrogressive action and I hope ICC will reconsider this issue,†said Coltart, who is on a maiden visit to India, in an exclusive interview to TNIE.
Coltart said he would take an opportunity to speak to ICC. “If you see what is happening in other sports, for example football, it is growing and more nations are coming into football. With this move, cricket will move backwards now,†he opined.
The ICC’s move, according to Coltart, has come at the wrong time when there is revival of the game in his country. “Do you know, cricket is the second most popular sport and it may become the most popular, as it is in India. One of the things that drives cricket to be popular is our participation in the World Cup,†he lamented, adding that it is the only World Cup where Zimbabwe participates as a nation. “We used to participate in the rugby World Cup but cricket is the only game where we get to play at the highest level.
“If Zimbabwe is denied it is going to undermine the game of cricket in the country. If you come to Zimbabwe today, in the poorest townships, you will find children playing cricket with passion. The youngsters dream they can one day compete with top teams of the world and this offers them a career path. If the World Cup is taken away, these career paths and ambitions will be severely undermined.â€
Coltart is always amazed how India has embraced cricket. “It is almost like a religion here. We are not at that level. But I think cricket has become quite popular in our country. It used to be played almost exclusively by whites in the past. But it is a different story now. Blacks Zimbabweans have embraced cricket in a big way.â€
A fan and friend of Andy Flower, Coltart admitted there was a tragedy in Zimbabwe cricket in the last ten years as they did not have senior cricketers to tutor and nurture the young talent. “But many of these cricketers have come back as coaches and are having an impact. I think you can see, for example, Utseya’s performance which has really picked up. He is now a world class player.â€
“We are not at the level of cricket we were in 1999 when we beat India and South Africa. It will be a major upset if we beat one of the top countries. But we are definitely improving and we are much better side than 2007. We have good chance to reach the quarter-finals. This week is critical. We need to beat Kenya too. And then we must aim to beat Pakistan or New Zealand. If we can do that, then we have a good chance to go to the quarter-finals,†concludes a confident Coltart.