Clarke supports retention of World minnows

SYDNEY: Australian captain Michael Clarke was at odds Monday with his predecessor Ricky Ponting over the International Cricket Council's moves to cut the number of teams at the 2015 World Cup.

In an early sign of a divergence in captaincy styles with Ponting, Clarke spoke out in support of minnow nations, who would likely be axed if the tournament's size was reduced.

"I really enjoy seeing the minnow teams getting an opportunity to be honest, I guess it's up to the ICC to work out whatever they think is in the betterment of the game, obviously that's their priority," Clarke told reporters before the Australian team's departure for a short tour to Bangladesh.

An ICC decision on the issue was expected to be made in Mumbai on Monday following a meeting of its executive board.

Ponting called for fewer teams during this year's World Cup ahead of the ICC's decision on culling the number of countries from 14 to 10 for the next edition in Australia and New Zealand in four years time.

Ponting, who stepped down as Australian captain last week, said in February that a balance had to be struck between encouraging the growth of the game and improving the quality of the World Cup competition.

The World Cup format again has been criticised as tediously drawn out during the group stages, meaning it took six weeks to complete the 2011 event in India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

Clarke agreed that the structure could be improved, but said that shouldn't necessarily be at the expense of the developing countries, with Ireland most notably adding excitement to the recent World Cup, won by India on Saturday.

"The two World Cups I've been involved in have been fantastic," he said.

"It certainly does feel between games like you have a long period when you've got six or seven days between games, but I've enjoyed seeing all the minnow teams play.

"We've seen throughout this World Cup there was a few upsets where there was some great cricket played," he added.

Ireland scored one of the biggest upsets in World Cup history when they toppled England with a superb run-chase last month, while the Irish also made the Super eight stage in 2007 when they beat Pakistan.

The ICC presently has 10 full-member nations, meaning if the Cup was cut to 10 teams, the minnow countries such as Kenya, the Netherlands and Canada would struggle to qualify.