Scotland's World Cup hopes hit by ICC decision

SALTIRES officials have reacted with dismay after their future World Cup qualification hopes suffered a major setback.

The Scots received the news they dreaded when ICC officials rubber-stamped a proposal to reduce the number of countries admitted to its showpiece 50-over competition to just ten.

And it is unclear how many - if any - associate countries will even have the chance to take part in a qualifying tournament.

Cricket Scotland already has an agreement to host the qualifiers for the 2015 global event. However, that tournament may be ditched after the ICC announced it will set up a Governance Review Committee to consider the issue of qualification for global events.

Euan McIntyre, Cricket Scotland's operations manager, said: "The news is extremely disappointing, but not unexpected.

"Now we can only wait to hear whether there will be any places on offer at the 2015 World Cup and whether we will be staging a qualifying tournament in 2013."

The ICC have, however, agreed to increase the number of associates competing in future T20 World Cups from 12 to 16 and refused to rule out making places available to associate nations at the 50-over global tournament. Scotland's immediate priority is to prepare for qualifying for the 2012 T20 World Cup.