Tony Becca, Contributing EditorOVER THE years, the International Cricket Council (ICC) has been strongly criticised for not spreading the game - so much so that in the 129 years since the first Test match was played, only 10 countries have been exposed to that level.
In recent years, however, the ICC has been promoting the game around the world. It has been spending some money on the development of the game in the weaker countries, and based on the competitions now in place for those countries - competitions like the ICC Intercontinental Cup and the ICC World Cricket League in three divisions, based on the results during the recently concluded Under 19 World Cup in Sri Lanka, it may not be long before more countries are granted Test status.
Usually the youngsters from the big boys of world cricket dominate the World Cup. This time around, however, not only did Bangladesh, whose seniors are ranked at the bottom of the list of Test-playing countries and who have been the beating stick of the other nine, defeat the likes of Pakistan, Sri Lanka, New Zealand and the West Indies, not only did Zimbabwe defeat England, but in winning the Plate Trophy, Nepal also defeated South Africa and New Zealand.
On top of that, and unlike the youngsters from the once great West Indies, a number of players from the Associate members performed brilliantly - to the extent that whereas only one player from Australia, only one from England, only one from the West Indies and not even one from South Africa or New Zealand were on the list, in Mushfiqur Rahim, Eoin Morgan and Kanishka Chaugai, one each from Bangladesh, Ireland and Nepal were numbered among the XI with the ability to be stars in the future.
DEEPER WOUNDS
And it goes deeper than that - especially as far as the West Indies are concerned.
In the most runs category, for example, where as the highest placed West Indian was at number 13, Morgan was second and Chaugai was sixth. Whereas Javon Searles was eighth in the batting averages and Jason Mohammed ninth with figures of 48.00 and 47.75 respectively, Morgan was third with 67.60 and Mehrab Hossain Jnr. of Bangladesh was seventh with 49.00.
In the most wickets category, while Searles finished 12th and Kemar Roach 25th, Hossain finished fifth, Niall Darby of Ireland finished seventh, Basanta Regmi of Nepal finished eighth and Patrick Ochan of Uganda finished ninth.
And although wicketkeeper William Perkins topped his section with 18 dismissals - 12 catches and six stumpings, it was even worse in the bowling averages where Nelon Pascal finished in 19th position and Searles in the 40th spot - both way behind bowlers from Zimbabwe, Ireland, Bangladesh, Uganda and Nepal.
Is it that some of the strong are becoming weak, or is it that some of the weak are becoming strong?
Based on the performances of Rahim - a batsman/wicketkeeper who already boasts a Test cap, of Morgan - a left-handed batsman who scored 338 runs and averaged 67.60 while finishing second and third to India's Cheteshwar Pujara who scored 349 and averaged 116.37, of Chaugai - who scored 234 runs and who from all reports batted brilliantly, and of Hossain who took 13 wickets, three less than top man Moises Henriques of Australia, at an impressive table-topping average of 8.38, it appears that it is the weak who are getting strong and, if that is so, that is good for the game and thanks to the ICC.
