ICC defends inclusion of minnows

Reacting to heavy criticism by Ricky Ponting, among other players and officials, the ICC has defended the inclusion of weaker teams on the international circuit. Before and after the biffing Australia gave USA, Ponting said that neither team gained much from such one-sided encounters.

But Brendan McClements, a spokesperson for the ICC, disagreed with the view, saying that the exposure was vital for weaker teams and that, in any case, they were scheduled to play more matches until the 2007 World Cup. "I think it's important those countries are able to aspire to and test themselves against that level," AAP quoted McClements as saying. "We have restructured the tournaments for our associate members over the last two years and over the next two years we'll see them take place as we get towards the World Cup in 2007."

"They will get a lot of cricket among themselves that will improve their cricket and there will also be some targetted funding toward the higher performing associate members. So I think as this structure takes root over the next two years we'll see the benefits of that by the time we get to the 2007 World Cup."

After New Zealand and Australia went on the rampage against USA, West Indies and Pakistan battered Bangladesh and Kenya respectively. McClements said he didn't expect the matches to go any other way, and suggested the more competitive matches would begin soon. "The results haven't been surprising. We would have preferred the matches to be more competitive but we've deliberately scheduled it so the more meaningful matches are going to come towards the end of the tournament."