HONG KONG: World cricket's governing body opened the door Monday for non-Test playing nations to compete in the next World Cup, reversing a bar that had outraged “minnows” such as Ireland and Holland. The International Cricket Council (ICC) in a statement said its chief executives' committee had recommended a qualifying process for the 2015 tournament, without specifying how many teams it wanted to see taking part. The recommendation rows back on the ICC's unpopular decision to limit the 2015 World Cup, in Australia and New Zealand, to the 10 full-member teams – excluding Ireland, the Netherlands, Canada, Kenya and other countries. “The CEC recommended that there should be a qualification process for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 but did not make a recommendation to the ICC executive board on the number of teams that should compete in the event to be held in Australia and New Zealand,” the ICC said in a statement on its website following a two-day meeting in Hong Kong. Officials are believed to be in favour of retaining a 10-team limit but a qualifying tournament would give minor nations a chance of reaching the event. The CEC also agreed to restrict the elective powerplays in One-Day Internationals – two blocks of five overs when only two fielders are allowed outside the 30-yard circle – to between the 16th and 40th overs of each innings and also to the use of two new balls per innings, one from each end. Powerplays, introduced in 2005 to add excitement to the 50-over format, place restrictions on fielding positions and are designed to give a temporary advantage to the batting side. The committee approved recommendations to continue research into the use of different color balls in day/night Test matches and the directive that batsmen can be given out for obstructing the field if they change their direction when running between the wicket to block a run-out chance. India caves in The Indian cricket board (BCCI) has finally agreed to use the Decision Review System (DRS) after the ICC proposed a modified version of the technology which allows teams to challenge umpire rulings. Teams can make two unsuccessful appeals against an umpire's decision using DRS but under the new version, ball-tracking technology will no longer be mandatory. “The agreed standards will include infra-red cameras and audio-tracking devices,” the governing body said in a statement. “The continued use of ball-tracking technology as a decision-making aid will depend on bilateral agreement between the participating members.” The BCCI had been opposing DRS's mandatory use in all Test and ODIs as it felt the ball-tracking technology was “unreliable” but the ICC's new version appears to have won the Indian board over. “The BCCI is agreeable to the use of technology in decision-making, which will include infra-red cameras and audio-tracking devices,” BCCI secretary N. Srinivasan said in a statement. Of the existing DRS tools, Snickometer is used to detect edges, Hot Spot uses infra-red cameras to give more convincing indications of the ball's point of contact, while Hawk Eye replicates the ball's trajectory. A proposal to abolish a runner aiding an injured batsman was also approved and all these issues will be discussed in the two-day ICC Executive Board meeting starting Tuesday.
