2015 World Cup To Include 14 Teams

ICC Reverts To 14-Team World Cup In 2015

India and Sri Lanka will feature at the 2015 World Cup along with four qualifiers

©REUTERS/Philip Brown (INDIA - Tags: SPORT CRICKET) Picture Supplied by Action Images

The International Cricket Board (ICC) Executive Board has concluded the first day of its two-day meeting and reversed the decision to limit the 2015 World Cup to ten teams.

The 2011 event included 14 teams and the 2015 tournament, to be held in Australia and New Zealand, will now feature the same number of countries.

They also decided to restrict the ICC World Twenty20 events in Sri Lanka in 2012 and Bangladesh in 2014 to 12 teams only, reversing a decision taken earlier this year to expand the tournament to 16 teams.

At the next World Cup, four Associate or Affiliate teams will join the ten full member countries while two Associate/Affiliate teams will join the ten full members for the next two ICC World Twenty20 competitions.

The 2019 World Cup will, however, be a 10-team event with the eight top-ranked teams qualifying automatically with two slots available for qualifiers.

Promotion and relegation based on ODI rankings will also now be introduced and the Future Tours Programme from 2012 to 2020 has also been approved.

The Board agreed with recommendations put to them by the Chief Executives' Board that a universal standard of technologly should be available when the Decision Review System (DRS) is used.

The board accepted that DRS should not be used in Twenty20 Internationals, and agreed with other recommendations from the CEC - namely that a rankings table for Twenty20 Internationals be created from 1st October 2011, changes be made to ODI cricket, more research is needed into using pink balls for day/night cricket, batsman should be dismissed - obstructing the field - if they change their course while making a run to prevent a run-out chance, that batsmen can be run out if they are backing up unfairly and that runners in international cricket will no longer be allowed.

© Cricket World 2011