ICC's U-turn gives Ireland chance to play in World Cup

Ireland's hopes of competing in the next World Cup were revived yesterday after the International Cricket Council overturned its original decision.

If the amended policy was a triumph for the smaller nations' right to compete in the sport's global showpiece, it was a disaster for the event itself, which will revert yet again to its seemingly interminable format.

It was a classic ICC fudge, trying to please everybody and arriving at the worst possible outcome. The ICC took four hours to agree to revoke its initial decision that the 2015 World Cup would be restricted to the 10 full member nations.

This had caused outrage among the associate members, not least in Ireland who caused one of the tournament's greatest upsets by defeating England in the 2011 tournament. Having heard the protests, the board agreed that the competition should once more consist of 14 teams, with the last four spots being decided via a qualifying event. Thus the 2015 event will again last more than six weeks.

Warren Deutrom, the chief executive of Cricket Ireland, said: "The board should be greatly commended for being courageous enough to review their original decision."

The better method might have been to keep the tournament at 10 teams with a qualifying event, involving the bottom two teams at a certain point in the calendar, against the top two associate teams. For political reasons that was eventually rejected – but it will be introduced for 2019.

The about-turn has also forced a change in the next two World Twenty20 competitions. Instead of comprising 16 teams, they will revert to the usual 12-team format.