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Scotland head coach Grant Bradburn has urged the International Cricket Council to review its decision to cut the Cricket World Cup to just 10 teams.
Bradburn believes the Scots’ stunning one-day international win over England has sent a “fantastic message” to the world governing body.
The ICC opted to cut the tournament from 14 teams to 10 for 2019, and Scotland narrowly failed to qualify.
“We are absolutely gutted about that,” Bradburn told BBC Radio 5 live.
“Obviously yesterday was another message. I don’t think it would be any surprise for cricket folk around the world to know that we competed [with England].
“But to compete and win sends a fantastic message to the world governing body that there are not just 10 teams who are well capable of playing at a World Cup. There are three or four of our fellow associate nations that need to be there as well.
“Obviously 2019 has been decided but we hope common sense prevails and that decision for 10 teams is reviewed for 2023.
“It has to be reviewed now. The idea of the governing body is to grow the game and to shrink the World Cup is no way to grow the game.”
Scotland were denied a place in the 2019 tournament when rain stopped their final match against West Indies in the qualifying tournament in March.
“It was just brutal, with only two teams out of the 10 going through,” noted Bradburn. “But what that created was some fantastic, meaningful cricket.
“It is an obvious one for me to start having two tiers, with promotion and relegation.
“That would mean having real cricket with context among the top 15 or 16 teams in the world, because that many teams are worthy of competing at a World Cup.”
‘We feel yesterday’s performance was brewing’
Scotland’s players celebrated their victory heartily on Sunday but must swiftly turn their attention to two T20 fixtures against Pakistan in Edinburgh on Tuesday and Wednesday this week.
“It was definitely one to savour and you have got to celebrate those victories,” said New Zealander Bradburn. “It was great to see the emotion in so many people and how much that victory meant to everyone.
“As long as we turn up for work tomorrow, we have got another couple of really nice fixtures. Pakistan are also ranked number one in T20 so it is a magic opportunity for the team.”
Derbyshire have announced that Calum MacLeod, Scotland’s hero with an unbeaten 140 in the win over England, will play for them in this season’s T20 Blast competition, joining Scotland team-mate Safyaan Sharif, who sealed victory by trapping England’s last man Mark Wood lbw.
Bradburn, who will also join Derbyshire’s backroom team for the competition, hopes beating England will give opportunities in county cricket to more of his Scotland players.
“Calum has already been picked up by Derbyshire, which is fantastic, along with Safyann Sharif,” Bradburn added.
“We would love a few more of our guys to get recognized and be picked up by counties – I think they are well worthy.
“We feel yesterday’s performance was brewing. Calum certainly led the way with a magnificent knock but so did all the batsmen – there were some fantastic knocks throughout the order.
“England showed why they are the number one team in the world. They played very well, they didn’t roll over, they didn’t have a bad day. I think that makes our victory even sweeter.
“I was so immensely proud of the way they just hung in there. Our boys held their catches, they held their nerve in the field, and just did enough to get over the line. It was a magic ball from Safyaan to finish it.”