Ireland will be given the chance to qualify for the 2015 Cricket World Cup after the ICC reversed the decision to restrict the tournament to the 10 Full Member nations.

The ongoing annual conference of the ICC have backed the decision to include four Associate teams in the tournament, reverting to 14 teams – the same number of team that played in this year’s World Cup.

‘The ICC Executive Board opted to retain the 14-team format that was used at the highly successful and universally acclaimed ICC Cricket World Cup 2011,’ the governing body said in a statement.

The ICC had sparked outrage in April when they announced plans to reduce the World Cup to a 10 team tournament, excluding all Associate nations.

This u-turn represents a significant boost for Ireland, who will now be strongly expected to qualify for their third consecutive World Cup, after establishing themselves as the best-performed Associate nation in recent years.

In addition to today’s decision it was also agreed that the next two World twenty20 tournaments would be reduced back to 12 teams.

‘The ICC executive board today reversed its previous decisions and approved a 14-team format for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 to be held in Australia and New Zealand and a 12-team format for the ICC World Twenty20 events in 2012 (Sri Lanka) and 2014 (Bangladesh),’ the statement read.

‘The board had previously decided in October 2010 that the ICC Cricket World Cup would comprise a 10-team event and that the ICC World Twenty20 events would involve 16 teams.’

The ICC also revealed the 2019 World Cup would be a 10-team tournament, with their rankings system used to determined the first eight direct entries. A qualification tournament will then be held to determine the final two teams to fill the numbers.

‘In addition, the board confirmed that the ICC Cricket World Cup in 2019 would be a 10-team event with the top eight in the Reliance ICC rankings earning their qualification automatically with the remaining two places being decided by a qualification competition,’ the statement added.

March 18th, 2011 : Today was a match between Ireland vs Netherlands in the ICC World Cup 2011. This was the 37 match of the league. The match was played at Eden Gardens, Kolkat. Team Ireland won he toss and elected to field. Netherlands suffer early jolts, as they had a really bad start. Eric Szwarczynski and Wesley Barresi opened for Netherlands Eric Szwarczynski scord just 1 run. Wicket keeper Wesley Barresi was retired hurt at 2 runs. Tom Cooper caught by Portfield on the ball of Rankin at just 5 runs. Now Ryan ten Doeschate and Ryan ten Doeschate were next on strike. Doeschate-Kervezee seemed steady for the Dutch but soon thereafter Kervezee was caught by o,Brien in the 11th over. Mean while Wesley Barresi returned back and was lbw at 48 runs. Ryan ten Doeschate scored fantastic 106 runs. Team captain Peter Borren made 84. The Dutch innings moved past the 300 mark before coming to an end in the 50th over, but in somewhat unconventional fashion with the last four batsmen run out from consecutive deliveries and the innings ending 306 all out off the final delivery of the 50 overs.

Match Notes
Toss – Ireland elected to field
Innings Break – 306/10 in 50 overs.
Result – Ireland won by 6 wickets

William Porterfield and Paul Stirling had an fantastic opening for their Ireland innings. Their opening stand of 177 runs in just 27 overs between centurion Paul Stirling (101) and captain William Porterfield (68) set the Irish up for what was ultimately a comfortable chase. Despite losing their two set batsmen, the hard work had been done for Ireland and Ed Joyce (28) and Niall O’Brien (57 not out) kept the innings on track before cameos from Gary Wilson (27 from 21) and Kevin O’Brien (15 from 9) saw the Irish to their second win of the competition. Ireland finished their World Cup campaign on a winning note in Kolkata on Friday with a six-wicket success over Group B wooden spooners the Netherlands.

Ireland vs Netherlands

Match: 37th ODI Match ICC CWC 2011
Venue: Eden Gardens, Kolkata
Date: March 18th,2011 (Friday)
Toss: Ireland elected to field
Result: Ireland won by 6 wickets

Scoreboard : Netherlands Innings

Fall of Wickets (Netherlands) –

1-7 (Szwarczynski, 1.3 ov), 2-12 (Cooper, 2.3 ov), 3-53 (Kervezee, 10.1 ov), 4-113 (Barresi, 21.5 ov), 5-234 (ten Doeschate, 39.5 ov), 6-287 (Borren, 46.5 ov), 7-305 (Buurman, 49.3 ov), 8-305 (Seelaar, 49.4 ov), 9-305 (Adeel Raja, 49.5 ov), 10-306 (Mudassar Bukhari, 49.6 ov)

Powerplay: 1-10, 11-15 (Bowling), 44-48 (Batting)

Scoreboard : Ireland Innings

Fall of Wickets (Ireland) –

1-177 (Porterfield, 26.6 ov), 2-179 (Stirling, 27.3 ov), 3-233 (Joyce, 38.1 ov), 4-279 (Wilson, 44.3 ov)

Powerplay: 1-10, 19-23 (Bowling), 45-49 (Batting)

Teams
Ireland (Playing XI): William Porterfield(c), Paul Stirling, Ed Joyce, Niall O’Brien(w), Gary Wilson, Kevin O’Brien, Alex Cusack, John Mooney, Trent Johnston, George Dockrell, Boyd Rankin

Netherlands (Playing XI): Eric Szwarczynski, Wesley Barresi, Tom Cooper, Ryan ten Doeschate, Alexei Kervezee, Peter Borren(c), Atse Buurman(w), Mudassar Bukhari, Pieter Seelaar, Adeel Raja, Bernard Loots

March 18, 2011 : Today was the match between Ireland vs Netherlands and this is the 37th match of the World Cup which is played at Kolkata. Both the teams are out of contention for the quarterfinal spots and will be looking to sign out on a high. The clash between the associate nations on Friday at the Eden Gardens is sure not to fill out the stadium but for both the teams this will be a great opportunity to end their campaign on a winning note. The last time both the teams met in Dublin, Ireland emerged victorious by 9 wickets.

Match Details
Match – ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 37 Match
Date – March 18th,2011 (Friday)
Time – 04:00 GMT (09:30 IST)
Venue – Eden Gardens, Kolkata

Ireland have been the team which has grown leaps and bounds and proved themselves worthy of the big stage this time. They have looked strong and have been formidable against the bigger teams including an upset win over England. Paul Stirling has provided Ireland with fiery starts throughout the tournament and will look forward to continue in the same fashion. The O’Brien brothers are the most experienced pair and can be banked upon on crunch situations. Talk about Ireland’s bowling and the first name that comes to one’s mind is of 18 year old George Dockrell. He has been nothing short of spectacular throughout the tournament with an economy of 4.46 and an average of 27.42 against the top flight teams. The other bowlers including the likes of Trent Johnston and Boyd Rankin have been good in patches but have failed to maintain their consistency.

Netherlands started off with a bang in this tournament almost managing to defeat England in their opening game but since then they have been pedestrian in their efforts. Ryan ten Doeschate has been the rallying centre for their team both in the batting and the bowling departments and whenever he has failed the team has collectively disappointed in their matches. The biggest worry for Netherlands going into the match would be their bowling department they have so far taken only 26 wickets in their previous 5 matches giving away 1334 runs. A contest between the associate nations is always fun to watch. There is bound to be excitement and one may well see a close finish between these two evenly matched teams. Peter Seelar for Netherlands and George Dockrell from Ireland are in tremendous form so far this World Cup and with the Eden pitch offering ample assistance to the spinners, they may well just be the deciding factor for their teams respectively.

Watch ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 highlights:
Watch ICC World Cup 2011, Match 37th, Ireland vs Netherlands Highlights played on March 18, 2011 at Kolkata.

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