CRICKET:Irish Cricket Union chief executive Warren Deutrom has expressed his disappointment with proposed plans to reduce the number of competing teams at the next World Cup from 16 to 14.

A meeting of the International Cricket Council's chief executive's committee in Kuala Lumpur yesterday made the recommendation that will be put to a meeting of the full executive of the ICC on March 18th.

If implemented, it will mean the 2011 World Cup will be nine days shorter than last year's event in the Caribbean, which took 47 days to complete and drew criticism for its protracted nature.

Deutrom believes the move would be a retrograde step for the global development of the game, in which Ireland has proved a front-runner.

"It's only a recommendation at this stage, although in the past these decisions are usually ratified at executive level," said Deutrom.

"Our view is that the high performance programme, of which Ireland is a member, needs time to come to fruition. If this decision were taken it would represent a degree of inconsistency in that programme.

"The ICC have put in place four years of further investment in the high performance countries and this would show a lack of consistent planning and approach," he added.

Much of the impetus behind the change comes from Pakistan and India, who will co-host the 2011 event along with Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

Pakistan failed to make it past the first round last year after losing to Ireland, while India also went home early after losing to Bangladesh.

The irony was not lost on Deutrom.

"It's very harsh if a couple of bad performances by the likes of Canada and Bermuda are the reason to take this decision. I think the ICC should consider the performances of Pakistan, India and Zimbabwe, who failed to make it through in the last World Cup.

"The World Cup should be a global showcase for the game, not just one for the elite cricketing nations," he said.

The proposed new format will get rid of the Super Eights stage of the competition, with the top four from each of the seven-team groups progressing to the knock-out stages.

The trickle-down effect would mean that four instead of six associate nations will qualify for the next World Cup.

Ireland qualified in second place for last year's competition after losing to Scotland in the final of the ICC Trophy in 2005. Bermuda, Canada and the Netherlands also made it through to the World Cup, while Kenya received automatic qualification the last time out.

The African nation will have to qualify next time around, meaning just four places on offer in next year's qualification competition, which is due to be staged in the United Arab Emirates.