ICC still mulling number of teams

The number of teams taking part in the 2019 World Cup hasn't been finalised, the International Cricket Council told AFP on Friday as it responded to growing criticism that its proposed cut risked damaging the sport's development.

Cricket chiefs have come under fire for their plan to reduce the number of teams involved in England in four years' time to 10 from the 14 taking part in the ongoing tournament in Australia and New Zealand.

But ICC chief executive David Richardson, in a telephone interview with AFP, said Friday: "I've learnt never to say never to anything. I'm sure the format of the next World Cup will be debated after this one has finished."

Ireland beat one of the elite Test match nations for the third successive World Cup when they defeated the West Indies by four wickets in their 2015 opener, while Thursday saw tournament debutants Afghanistan's astonishingly rapid progress continue when they defeated Scotland by just one wicket to record their first World Cup win.

"I'm pleased with the performances of the qualifiers so far, but the bigger tests are still to come," said Richardson.

"The question is what do you want the World Cup to be? Do you want it to be a jamboree of world cricket or the pinnacle of the one-day game?"

"Heading into this tournament there was criticism that the format (where 14 teams are split into two groups of seven, with the top four in each pool qualifying for the quarterfinals) would leave us with a long group stage, at the end of which the eight teams everyone thought would get through had made it into the quarterfinals."