The vote by the International Cricket Council's subcontinental powers to reduce the number of teams at the 2011 World Cup was labelled a 'retrograde step' by top Hong Kong official John Cribbin yesterday.
A bid by Hong Kong and other associate members to prevent the ICC's chief executives committee from reducing the number of teams from 16 to 14 failed last week.
'This is a retrograde step as far as developing the game worldwide is concerned,' said Cribbin, secretary of the Hong Kong Cricket Association. 'The subcontinent, which will host the next World Cup, has only seen this through the blinkers of their own national interests.
'This is bad news for smaller developing nations like Hong Kong. The World Cup is the biggest tournament and our chances of playing in it have been even further reduced,' said Cribbin.
The ICC's chief executives committee - comprising the 10 test-playing nations as well as associate members Hong Kong, Ireland and Namibia - voted for a 14-team World Cup, reducing the participation of associate members from six to four. Last year's World Cup in the Caribbean featured 16 teams.
'The subcontinent test nations of India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh acted in concert and were mainly behind this move. They have put their own interests first,' said Cribbin, who attended the meeting.