Plenty of positivity around the event so far

These are still early days for this ICC Cricket World Cup but thus far, it is a case of so-far-so good as the tournament has lived up to our expectations.

Cricket fans have shown their desire to be part of the first major global event in Australia and New Zealand for 23 years, a fact reflected by outstanding attendances, with more than 150,000 people attending the first four matches alone and ticket sales in excess of 825,000 before a ball was bowled.

The players have responded with passion and commitment by producing outstanding performance after outstanding performance, lifting the bar higher and higher.

And on television – including coverage on OSN Cricket in the United Arab Emirates – radio and the internet, audiences have responded by following the action in vast numbers, with the India – Pakistan match at the Adelaide Oval last Sunday likely to have been the most watched cricket match in history.

It all adds up to a tournament that is unquestionably the biggest global sporting event of 2015 and one that ranks second only to the Fifa World Cup in terms of single sports tournaments. The fact it has started so positively is confirmation of what we believe at Cricket Australia, that the One Day International (ODI) format remains a strong and relevant part of the game’s modern landscape.

Importantly, 50-over cricket offers the best of the sport’s two extremes – the big hits and attacking cricket that are the main components of Twenty20, as well as a result within the day, while, at the same time allowing for the ebbs and flows that characterise Test cricket, our longest, and longest running format.

The ICC Cricket World Cup also offers us history, which is a fundamental part of any sport. The tournament has 40 years of it and counting, stretching back to the very first one in 1975. Footage and photographs from down the years, including the winning captains holding the trophy aloft, the amazing tied semi-final between Australia and South Africa in 1999 and M.S. Dhoni’s winning six in Mumbai four years ago form key parts of the game’s folklore.

Since we last hosted this event alongside New Zealand in 1992, an event that involved nine teams and which was regarded as a great success, cricket as a sport has certainly moved on and developed. That can be seen by the way this tournament involves 14 teams including, for the first time, Afghanistan and, for the first time in 19 years, the United Arab Emirates.

Their qualification and inclusion, along with that of Ireland – already with a victory against the West Indies under its belt – and Scotland – which ran New Zealand so close on Tuesday – illustrates the increasing depth of the sport.

Although the 2019 event in England and Wales is set to involve 10 teams, we believe that set-up actually offers further opportunities to develop the ODI format and provide greater context to more and more matches around the world every year through the recently announced qualification process via the ICC rankings.

We know that for Associate teams to qualify for that event in four years’ time, they will need to play against Full Members more often than at present to give themselves the chance to move up those rankings. We have already shown our hand by playing Afghanistan, Ireland and Scotland in bilateral matches over the past three years and we will continue to do so whenever we can. Our next match in that regard is against Ireland in August.

On the basis that it is up to all Full Members to play their parts in assisting with the continued health and growth of the game by ensuring a more competitive cricketing landscape, we look forward to more sides doing likewise in the coming months and years ahead.

After the final of the 1992 tournament in Melbourne I still remember, as a young fast bowler on the fringes of the Victoria state side, seeing the successful Pakistan players return to their hotel, along with the trophy and a caravan of fans all chanting and singing.

It was an electric moment that has stayed with me, as has being present in Mumbai to witness India’s win on home soil in 2011, and from a purely partisan perspective I hope for Australia can repeat that magic on March 21. There is plenty of water to flow under the bridge before we get to that point but we can say for certain that there is a great feeling of positivity around this tournament so far. Long may that continue!

- The author is the CEO of Cricket Australia