Less than 100 days to the World Cup. Preview of the 'Associates'

The World Cup is less than 100 days away and it goes down under after a gap of 23 years. There has been a lot of talk of who the favourites and the dark horses for the tournament are. The current international calendar is such that all the ten full members are currently trying to get their team combinations straight ahead for the tournament and currently all of them have bilateral engagements over the next three months till the tournament starts. However, it must not be forgotten that the tournament is not just a 10 team event. This is a 14 team World Cup and this might be the last time we have such an 'elaborate' fifty over World Cup.

Over the years the World Cup has thrown up very few minnow successes to show that the game's governing body has 106 members. Keeping focus on the World Cup, it would be safe to say that the competitive standard of associate cricket has perhaps never been stronger ever before. If current form is to anything to go by, then there is little to separate between the four associates and full members Bangladesh and Zimbabwe. In fact, considering that the Associates qualified for the World Cup in New Zealand and have played at least six to eight warm up games against state teams of Australia and New Zealand, the Associates might just be better prepared than Bangladesh and Zimbabwe. 

The four associates playing the World Cup are Ireland, United Arab Emirates, Scotland and Afghanistan. It won't be too aggressive to state that a good show at the World Cup might be the strongest statement made by the associates for the ICC to make a more inclusive growth of the sport rather than working towards a greater financial model.

This piece analyses performance of these teams over the last 12 months and highlight one key player who might come across as the lynchpin for the team to build the progress around keeping the conditions in Australia and New Zealand in mind. 

Afghanistan: The fairy tale rise of the sub-continent minnows' to their first 50 over World Cup in just 10 years from Division 6 of the World Cricket League has been aiding the PR machinery of the ICC for the last 5 years. Afghanistan has had a reasonable showing at the international level so far in 2014 under coaches Kabir Khan and Andy Moles. 

Recent performance: They put up a good show at the Asia Cup, beating Bangladesh comprehensively and then went on to draw a 4 match away series against Zimbabwe, thereby showcasing clearly that they belong to the international level albeit at least against the lower ranked full teams. Further, as a part of their preparation, Afghanistan performed admirably against state teams in Australia and New Zealand winning 4 out of 8 games. However, their performance at Perth on bouncy wickets is a concern that they would like to address. They only have a game against New Zealand A in Dubai to set their combination straight though there has been news that special camps would be conducted in Pakistan on specially prepared wickets for the World Cup.

Key player to watch out for: Afghanistan doesn't seem to have a trump card or a talisman that carries the team forward. While earlier, Hamid Hassan would fit in this role, persistent injuries have forced him off the field. From a review of their performances over the past year it seems, a core group of players such as Nawroz Mangal at the top of the order, the pace bowling duo of Shapoor and Dawlat Zadran and all-rounder Mohammad Nabi have been the consistently putting in the works. 

Scotland: Scotland on the other hand have had their ups and downs throughout the year. Besides, they are making a comeback to the World Cup after 2007 and would like to showcase the improvements that they have made over the years.

Recent performance: They lost to the Irish and the Dutch at home and won only 2 of the 7 warm up games in Australia and New Zealand. But the defeats don't really show the competitiveness that the Scots have shown. They gave a full strength New Zealand XI side which included players like Brendon McCullum and Ross Taylor, a run for its money and lost by just a run. A squad with all professional players, playing in the first XIs of English counties, along with the experienced coaches Grant Bradburn and Paul Collingwood have the potential to cause a few upsets in the main draw. 

Key player to watch out for: Kyle Coetzer, the captain for the past two years, has led from the front. Apart from being one of the most consistent performers for Scotland in Associate cricket, he has also performed creditably for Northamptonshire in List A and Twenty20 cricket over the last 2-3 years. An added advantage is the fact that he was among the runs in the warm up games in Australia and New Zealand. 

Ireland: Arguably the flag bearer of taking cricket beyond full member dominance, Ireland has been keeping up its name despite the exodus of star players such as Boyd Rankin (move to England) and Trent Johnston, who has retired. It is brewing new blood in its ranks and is one of the first Associate nations to offer central contracts to retain players from the lure to move to England. 

Recent performance: Ireland's performance against Associates over the last two years is similar to the kind of performance exhibited by Australia during the noughties. Early this year it ran West Indies close in an ODI in the West Indies, ran Sri Lanka and Pakistan horribly close at home and has been dominating Scotland, Afghanistan and Netherlands both home and away. However, their form dipped in the practice games in Australia and New Zealand, owing to injuries and departures of key players and coach. Ireland won only two games out of eight. They now have only two games against New Zealand A in Dubai to set their team combination straight. 

Key player to watch out for: Paul Stirling has been one of the most exciting prospects to come out of Ireland. An aggressive streak at the top of the order, against quality pace is reminiscent of Virender Sehwag of yore, and handy part time off spin would be key in the tournament. Though, he missed out on the warm up games in Australia and New Zealand, Stirling would be a key performer in the Irish squad.  

UAE: UAE is by far the most amateur squad of the Associate nations that are participating at the World Cup. They're making a come back to the World Cup after 19 years and their most memorable moment in international cricket so far has been Sultan Zarawani, strutting out to face Allan Donald wearing a sunhat in Rawalpindi. Donald bounced him off the pitch and they dove into obscurity of international cricket. In the words of their own captain, you cannot take cricket seriously in the UAE at the moment. Lack of professionals in the squad and the presence of mostly expats is the problem that this squad faces. However, they have been brought together enthusiastically by their 43 year old captain Khurram Khan and coach, the former Pakistan international Aaqib Javed. 

Recent performance: They have played a few warm up games and have won 2 out of the 4 games that they played in New Zealand. Besides, their performance at Perth would be something that they could take positives from. Apart from the warm ups, they lost to strong 'A' squads of Pakistan and New Zealand, at home recently. 

Key player to watch out for: Khurram Khan, the captain of the UAE may possibly be the oldest playing professional at the World Cup. At 43, he was still is the top scorer for the UAE in the World Cup qualifiers earlier this year in New Zealand and the World T20 held earlier in Bangladesh. He also bowls handy orthodox left arm spin. 

While, it would be tough to predict, whether any of these sides would qualify for the main draw but at a time when the game is plaguing more issues off the field than on it, we can only hope that the Associates give us new heroes and truly make the contest down under a 'World Cup'.

The post was written for Sportskeeda on 26th November 2014.