Honestly, this is really really sad from such a great organisation as Cricinfo.
Firstly there is a qualifier tournament for non-test playing nations, it was held last year and was a great tournament.
Secondly you say 'There will be 42 matches required just to eliminate the minnows?'. How can you say that when in the last TWO world cups (50 and 20 overs) test playing nations were knocked out in the first rounds and 'minnows' made it through....

You really should not let people write articles that are poorly researched and filled with inaccuracies and bias.

This is seriously what is needed but the "powers to be" will never let it happen. They will in fact push for more teams so that they can increase the visibility of the game. A short world cup is desperately needed if it is to be called a competition between the worlds best.

Not a very good idea. World cup is not like Champions trophy. One of the pleasure of WorldCup is minnows team upsetting big teams.
Btw a 12 teams WC will be better

I totally agree with that.The ICC says playing minnows in WCs gives exposure but having a qualifying stage gives them more time to improve as they cant constantly test themselves against stronger teams and gain some confidence by beating worse minnows.Otherwise it had can be hard for them to just come to the WCs without any proper games and be expected to beat the big teams.

1992 was pretty successful with 9 teams in full round robin, even with sri lanka and zimbabawe as
"easy beats". Personally i think one day players should be country locked for one day games but associate players can then play test cricket with
test playing nations, so a player could play for ireland or scotland for odis and test cricket
for england this would prevent the siphoning off of talent from the sides not quite there like kenya and ireland.

I think a 16 team world cup would be ideal but the depth isn't there to support it.

The world cup is also a development tool balance needs to be maintained with the marketing side.

a 3x5 tournament would be better than 2x7,
either top two with two best third placers
for 1/4 finals, or top team + best second
for semi finals.

Meaning is not that important going back to
92 sri lanka vs zimbabawe was a cracker,
meant nothing at all except who came last.

Unless the basic format has changed significantly from 2007, that sounds like the same format as is now and as is in the soccer (football) world cup. That is, for the first part, the initial stages are elimination and it then proceeds to the meaningfull part, the super eights. Having said that, try telling Pakistan and India that the group stage was not meaningfull. Second, soccer has world cup qualification because 204 nations are involved in qualification. 32 teams compete in the finals. Many matches are as meaningless/meaningfull as those in the cricket world cup. The comparison is superfluous.

wov!! That is one hell of an idea. Makes real good viewing, and an extremely competitive tournament. At any cost Australia will win though.

I agree with you. The World Cup is Poorly structured. Having a knock-out at the end is just illogical having played so many games to get there.

I do feel though that the World Cup should be about the minnows as the big teams, but it should also be about making sure the team that plays best over the tournament wins - this is once every 4 years after all. In that regard the World Cup should be at contrast with the ICC Trophy.

The Trophy works best as a short sharp tournament between the game's elite. This year's tournament was pretty much spot on in that regard.

What I would do for the World Cup is borrow the groups of 4 (2 progress) from the Trophy but add an extra round. So, 16 teams to begin, 8 qualify for round 2. Round 2 is 2 groups of 4. Then not have semi-finals but instead a final group of 4 (Rd. 3). The best 2 teams from the final group then play off for the Cup.

The advantage of the 3 round + final system is that with small of only 4 the games all have meaning.

Praveen, do you really think the ICC will run risk of it's most marketable eight teams not playing in it's showpiece event by making them qualify? I don't wish to see another 50-Over World Cup in 2015. The World Twenty20 should become the only World Cup. Since minnows are more competitive in T20 and since they can play up to 3 games per day, it will be appropriate to have 14 teams or more in future ICC World T20's.

Yes, desperately ICC, YES! I have been advocating this since the 2003 world cup. It is too long atm. I would actually like to see MORE teams, but less matches. 24 teams qualify in regional qualifiers - guaranteeing Euro and American teams for added interest. The six groups of four, play each other once, top two go through to knockout phase. Please! The highlight of the last world cup was minnows Ireland upsetting Pakistan. The rest was one really long dull yawn.

Thats why I think 1992 was the best WC ever

It's a much better playing the way you suggest than the way it is at the moment but obviously, nothing will be done. What's laughable though is what the ICC (read BCCI) has come up with as the format, I can't think of a worst way of going about it. If they wanted to play as many as 14 teams and so many matches by having them in two groups of 7, the least they could have done is not worry about the quarters stage, just have the top two from each group contest semis, that way every upset by a minnow, every match amongst the test nations in the first round would be of some value. Wih the way it is at the moment, it's absolute non-sense and disgraceful the way cricket fans are being taken for a run here, just a shambles of a format this for 2011 World Cup.

Full members shouldnt get automatic qualification. There should be a regional qualification with a Playoff series to get through.
I would expand the world cup to 24 teams, as follows:
Regional
* 2-3 stage competition, where top teams in each region play off.
* 20 teams qualify for world cup, with next 10 teams have playoffs for last 4 spots.
World Cup
* Round 1 - 4 groups of 6 with top 2 through to Super 8's.
* Super 8's. Each team players 6 matches (with Round 1 carried on), top 4 goto semis, followed by final.

Atleast ensure that a 50over final is played. Unlike last time a the 30 over final, out of which 3 overs at the end played in pitch darkness, worst umpiering and a rain interrupted game. If we have to play a final in such conditions, might as well not. Im not sure whether Australia won it or cricket lost it.

Yes the last WC was boring.The entire format of the WORLD CUP where the teams qualified from the group have to play the second round which is another group stage which made the WORLD CUP lengthy and in the next WORLD CUP there are 7 teams each in two groups.
FORMAT:
I think the WORLD CUP should have 24 teams divided in 8 groups. The top 12 teams with ODI status and the rest 12 should be selected from the WORLD CUP qualifiers i.e. the top two teams of the qualifiers each from Asian,African,European,South American and North American continents.
Each group should comprise of 3 teams.
The top 2 qualify for the next knockout phase.
The winner of one group plays the runner up of the second group and vice versa in the knockout phase.
The 8 winners of the knockout phase then should play the QF,SF,and the finals.
The WC will have 39 matches which will be better.
QUALIFIERS:
The WC qualifiers would indirectly help in creating the public interest from the nations participating in the qualifiers

Praveen, you say that 42 matches is too long for a round robin stage. With competent scheduling (admittedly 'competency' is something the ICC isn't known for), this first stage could be completed in, say, 18 days. A day off, then the top 2 teams from each group play semis on consecutive days, another day off and then the final.

The entire event is completed in 23 days, there should be at least one good game on every day and everyone would have plenty of chances to see their team in action. The two groups of seven format can work if the ICC choose to make it work. If they choose not to, it's hard to see them putting on a good tournament regardless of the format.