Scotland’s failure to qualify for the 2019 Cricket World Cup could have far-reaching financial implications on the associate nation’s cricketing program, said Cricket Scotland’s chief executive Malcolm Cannon.
The Scottish cricket body could lose up to £700,000 (Rs 6.43 crore) bonus in funding after the team failed to qualify in controversial circumstances. Scotland lost a rain-curtailed match, amid farcical conditions, to the West Indies via the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern method.
Cannon said he wasn’t sure if some full-time contracts would be cut, according to a report in the BBC. Speaking to BBC Scotland, Cannon said, “It isn’t just financial implications. The opportunities to actually play cricket are reducing somewhat. The ICC don’t offer many opportunities to us, and going into a World Cup year, the teams we would like to play become very busy. So finding a window in their schedule is very tough.”
The associate nation had opened their campaign with victory over Afghanistan, as they went through the group phase unbeaten and proceeded to defeat UAE at the Super Sixes Stage, before succumbing to a loss against Ireland.
That reduced their match against West Indies to a must-win game where they skittled the opposition out for 198. Mid-way through the chase, a well-set Ritchie Berrington was given out leg before and in the absence of the Decision Review System, Scotland could not review the decision, which replays confirmed was a poor one.
As rain ensued, the Scots lost out via the DLS method, thus ending their hopes of a World Cup appearance. Currently, Scotland only have three international matches on their hand this summer, a one-dayer with England on 10 June and two Twenty20 matches against Pakistan on June 12 and 13.
Cannon said that Cricket Scotland had urged the International Cricket Council to re-consider their decision to shrink the World Cup to 10 teams in light of the plight of associate nations.
“We have been lobbying the ICC for the last three years, telling them that [reducing the number of teams at the World Cup from 14 to 10] is a retrograde step for cricket globally,” he said. “To reduce the number of teams – while World Cups in other sports are being increased – really sticks in the craw, especially given the fact that in mid-2017 they increased the number of full members from 10 to 12. So there are full-member countries missing out as well as what are deemed associate members like ourselves.”