The rise of associate nations in the world of cricket

To make cricket a global sport and to make it to the Olympics, the parent body of cricket first had to take a huge step and make cricket available to people across the globe. Honestly, it’s easier said than done! From Germany to Brazil to the United States of America, nations are playing and developing their cricketing skills and the cricket council of the world deserves a lot of appreciation for that.

Countries like Kenya, Netherlands and Irelands have been in the circuit for a long time now. The rise of Oman, Afghanistan, and Scotland has been fantastic and all are now part of the t20 World Series setup. Afghanistan specially has done so well in the 50 over format and 20 over format that they are now a test playing nation. Thus, the growth as we believe is real and is giving a lot of confidence to other emerging cricketing nations.

The United States of America in recent times are promoting their cricket a lot. A lot of former International stars are part of their set-up. Stars like Corey Anderson and former U-19 World Series winning captain Unmukt Chand are part of the squad. Their domestic league has also received a lot of attention and some of the Indian t20 league teams have also invested in the league. Thus, within 2028, we can see a good squad and they may very well represent in any of the t20 World Series before that.

A lot of European countries have started playing the game as well. The England board was under some pressure as they couldn’t promote the gentlemen’s game into the continent. Things have changed now. Germany, Italy, Jersey, Belgium, Botswana are all playing cricket now and are part of the larger plan. These teams are playing to qualify for next year’s t20 World Series at Australia. Asian countries like Iran, Malaysia, and Hong Kong have also joined the game in recent times. The Singapore national team player Tim David has already turned a lot of heads in various t20 leagues and has also got the chance to play in the Indian T20 League. Thus, we can expect a bright future for their national team as well.

Things are working and in the next ten years we can finally see Cricket as a global sport and not something that only 10-12 nations play. A lot of credit goes to the cricketing council of the world. Their efforts for quite some time have finally taken a proper shape and nations are giving importance to cricket.

Not only men’s but women's cricket has developed a lot in these regions. South American countries are huge fans of football. They are said to eat, live and sleep football and are now playing cricket. This has to inspire other nations and with everyone’s support, we might one day host a World Series with more than 20 teams. An honest cricket fan can’t wait for that. Can you?