'Minor teams will spoil major tourney'

World cup 2007 in the Caribbean :

Cricket: Too many minor teams will play in and diminish the World Cup, says West Indies cricket great Michael Holding.

Only the best non-test nation should be entered in next month's World Cup in the Caribbean, Holding told Bermuda's Royal Gazette.

The International Cricket Council increased the qualifying berths from one to five to make up a 16-team tournament - a mistake, Holding said, which will lead to boring, one-sided matches and devalued entertainment.

The five qualifiers were decided at the 2005 12-nation ICC Trophy, won by Scotland, which was followed by Ireland, Canada, Bermuda, and the Netherlands. "I do not believe the World Cup should go on for as long as it does (almost two months) and that is partly because there are far too many teams in the competition who are not good enough to be there," said the 53-year-old Holding, a former fast bowler turned TV commentator.

"I've argued about this with the ICC for some time. I simply do not believe that if you come fourth in the ICC Trophy that you should be entitled to play in the World Cup. "It does not make sense to me. What is gained by a team playing in the World Cup and getting absolutely hammered? In my opinion it is counterproductive."

He said the non-test playing countries should have their own competition, and qualify only the winner for the World Cup.

"It's a big jump from that to having six non-test nations all playing against the cream of the crop. It's not good for cricket," Holding said.

He was optimistic that the first World Cup in the Caribbean will be a success - despite stadium construction delays and tourist visa problems.

"I'm really looking forward to it. It's a very exciting time for the whole Caribbean," he said.

"There have been some problems in some aspects of the preparation, but the logistics of organizing a World Cup which is spread out over a region made up of many sovereign nations, with different laws, governments and currencies, was always going to be hard.

"We tend to do things at the last minute in the Caribbean - it's part of our culture. Even on the morning of a test match there's always people hammering in nails somewhere or somebody painting something.

It's the same with tickets as well. People in the Caribbean don't buy tickets months in advance, they tend to do it on the day of the game or a couple of days before. But I think you'll find once the competition gets under way things will run pretty smoothly."

He added that a good performance by West Indies was also necessary for the success of the tournament starting on March 13.

"I'm not saying they have to win it but I think they've got to get to at least the semifinals to keep the interest levels high for as long as possible," he said. "I think we've got a good one-day side, though we're a little inconsistent at the moment. ."

HAMILTON, Bermuda, Thursday AP