Cricket is a gentleman’s game. The sport was first played way back in 1844 when the USA and Canada locked horns with each other. But the first-ever recognised Test match was played between England and Australia in 1877. These two teams are fierce cricketing rivals since then. The game finally was governed by a parent body (International Cricket Council) in 1909. This governing body recognises the cricket countries and assigns them their appropriate status. Here is the full list of how many cricket teams are there in the world.
How Many Cricket Teams Are There In The World? | ICC – Stumpsandbails
ICC recognized member countries:
The ICC currently has 104 member nations currently. 12 full member countries are recognized Test-playing nations. The remaining 92 countries are the associate member nations. Cricket despite being a popular sport is yet to take the leap off being a global sport. Hence the clear difference between the ratio of full and associate members is there for everyone to see.
Full Members:
Full Members of ICC represent those cricketing nations who the governing bodies for cricket in a country or a group of associated countries representing a geographical area. This is a premium list of nations who have not just voting rights in the ICC meetings but have also been granted Test status. There are a total of 12 full member nations in the ICC committee.
Teams like Australia, South Africa, England, West Indies, Pakistan, and India have been cricketing superpowers across timelines. The Windies dominated the 70s and the 80s. Australia were unstoppable in the early part of the 2000s. The Indian cricket team has ruled since 2007. England who were one of the first cricketing nations won the World Cup eventually in 2019. It took them more than 120 years of their playing history to emerge world champions.
There have been 5 teams who started as being associate members but have now received full member status. Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, and Ireland started out with baby steps. But these countries have added fine context to the modern game.
Associate members:
The associate member countries are easily the majority in the ICC body. Cricket even though played in these areas hasn’t really caught up with the demographics there. The ICC in a bid to globalise cricket granted T20I status to all the associate members since 1 July 2018 for women and 1 January 2019 for men. These nations are often called the minnows. The best of the lot through various qualification leagues get a chance to rub shoulders with stronger nations in events like the T20 World Cup.
Associate members with ODI status:
ICC in a move to clearly reward the up and coming passionate cricketing nations awarded ODI status to select few associate members. Countries like Namibia, Nepal, Netherlands, Oman, Papua New Guinea, Scotland, United Arab Emirates, and the United States have been granted ODI status.
Former members:
Morocco, Cuba, Brunei, Tonga, and Switzerland were previous associate members. But the ICC has revoked their status owing to different reasons.
As of now how things stand, Cricket has taken small but significant measures to spread its wings across the globe. The game needs more countries and even more fans to engage with it.
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