Namibia is not happy with the ICC's decision to restructure the Intercontinental Cup. Namibia had already participated in the ICC World Cup qualifier where it had finished last in the ranking, and based on this performance it was hoping to obtain a place for itself in the 2009-10 Intercontinental Cup. However, after the matches have been completed, ICC has now remodeled the whole concept. As a result of this remodeling, Namibia, which had finished runners up in the 2007-08 event, have been relegated to a four-team second division known as Intercontinental Shield. To add salt to the injury, ICC has ruled out any upward or downward movement of the teams between the divisions.

While ICC may have taken this decision keeping in view the relative progress of Namibia, the Namibian authorities are of the view that the stand of ICC has to be viewed from a new perspective. This decision has meant that now there are ten countries competing against eight teams in the earlier dispension, but how is it going to inculcate the spirit of competition wondered Peters. As a result of this order now the four countries competing in the Shield will have three matches each and not even the incentive of a promotion-relegation match.

For the cricket authorities in Namibia the earlier set up provided them an opportunity to compete against the mainstream teams and it could have been used as a benchmark to test their preparedness. The new order where by Zimbabwe has also been brought into the Intercontinental Cup at the expense of an associate is a retrograde step feels Peters.

He is more worried about the fact that the decision of ICC could have a debilitating effect on the cricket scenario in Namibia. Namibia had taken quite a lot of interventions at the infrastructural levels as also developmental levels about cricket. This new development may lead to ebbing of the awareness, excitement and interest about cricket in Namibia. Now Namibia would not be able to have much international exposure as well and this could have an effect on the moral of the Namibian team.

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3.25 Copyright (C) 2007 Alain Georgette / Copyright (C) 2006 Frantisek Hliva. All rights reserved."

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