Scotland captain Preston Mommsen criticises ICC for unfair attitude against Associate nations

Scotland captain Preston Mommsen has pleaded with the International Cricket Council (ICC) to be more considerate towards the Associate nations and help spread the game rather than containing it, ESPN Cricinfo reports. The 28-year-old also took strong exception to popular cricket commentator Harsha Bhogle’s comments regarding the issue.

Scotland tasted their first ever success at a major ICC event on Saturday defeating Hong Kong but the victory was meaningless as they failed to qualify for the group stages of the World T20 following losses against Zimbabwe and Afghanistan. This was despite the fact that Scotland had won along with Netherlands a predecessor qualifying tournament in 2015 involving countries like USA, Jersey and Papua New Guinea.

Mommsen feels that it was harsh that the smaller cricketing nations were made to play two qualifying tournaments to qualify for the main stages of the World T20.

"I think if you're having a qualifying tournament for a World Cup, then it needs to be a qualifying tournament, not a qualifying tournament for another qualifier. I think that's unfair. Within this qualifier [in India] we've played against two teams that we've played in the qualifying tournament. So that doesn't really make logical sense,” Mommsen said.

"If you're talking specifically about Twenty20, I think the qualifying tournament that we held in Scotland and Ireland was brilliant. I think it showed off the Associates, showed the skill that was on display, and I think TV numbers were pretty good for that, social media numbers were pretty good for that, and so I think that was a very good event. However, the qualifiers need to go straight into [the World T20 main draw]. If it needs to be a 16-team tournament, then so be it," he added.

Mommsen’s views though are not shared by the ICC with the governing body stating that the 2019 World Cup will be a 10-team tournament, rather than a 16-team event as was the case with the 2015 World Cup held in New Zealand and Australia. The Associate nations have already expressed their displeasure over the decision and Mommsen is further aggrieved that the qualifying tournament for the same will be held in Bangladesh rather than England where the main tournament will be held.

"If you're having a World Cup in a particular country, I think that qualifying tournament needs to be in that country," Mommsen said, after his side's eight-wicket win over Hong Kong at the World T20. "There's huge alarm bells ringing about the 50-over World Cup coming up, and the qualifying tournament quite conveniently held in Bangladesh when the World Cup is in England. So that makes absolutely no sense at all, and that seriously needs to be readdressed before that tournament takes place."

Mommsen expresses strong displeasure over Harsha Bhogle tweet

Popular cricket commentator Harsha Bhogle had taken to Twitter to express his views regarding comments coming out from several of the Associate countries that there was alarmingly low number of competitive fixtures against Full Members. One of Bhogle’s comments read as follows: "You can either moan about how little you have or you can make the most of whatever you have. For the hungry, opportunity resides everywhere."

Mommsen took strong exception to the comments made by Bhogle and felt that a popular cricket personality should have acted more responsibly.

"I was incredibly surprised when I saw that tweet by Harsha," Mommsen said. "I admire Harsha as one of the great commentators of the game. I think he has a responsibility as an ambassador for the game to ensure that he is promoting the right things within the game, and I was deeply offended by what he was trying to say.”

Mommsen said that though he had a personal chat with Bhogle over the comments, he was not happy with the response he received from the other end.

"He was trying to be over-philosophical about things, and I think other cricketers around the world have been offended by that. I don't want to make this about that. We have exchanged messages and I think he's trying to say that he was implying something else. I'm not sure how much I buy that though," he said.