How many teams should be there in the Cricket World Cup (2015)

How many teams should play the cricket world cup? What should be the format of cricket world cup? Do the minnows gain anything from playing in the World Cup? Should cricket be worried about mismatches when other sports don't seem to worry about it?

These are the many question that come into mind when anyone thinks of the format of Cricket World Cup. Where should cricket look upto and work on the format. So many formats have been tried but the perfect solution doesn't seem to be there. Since 1992 World Cup there have been a different format for each world cup starting from a 9 nation 1992 WC, reaching a peak in 2007 with 16 teams and then reducing by 2 teams to 14 in 2011 WC. Now the most disgusting thing is being discussed - the 10 Nation World Cup. Not only does it sound disgusting, it is against the whole concept of ICC working on expansion of the game.

To look for the right number of teams in the World Cup (First we decide on Number of Teams and then format will be based on number of teams). The sports I have picked up are all field sports with large field sizes so that helps in normalizing many factors. The sports picked are- Football, Baseball, Hockey and Rugby.

The strength of each sport and its spread can be determined by number of countries that have won the world cup and number of teams that have reached the semifinals. Based on these ratio I will work the whole calculations.

But before going ahead with the calculations we should remember these formats

• Cricket World Cup matches takes much higher amount of Time hence we have to go little conservative
• There are 3 formats of Cricket-ODI, T20 and Tests
• The other 2 formats also have / will have a World Championship - ICC World T20 & soon to come Test Championship
• For the T20 we show match the most aggressive sport
• For Test Championship, since more time, less chance of any upsets we simply should be very conservative in number of teams

Working on the number of teams in world cup and number of winners and semifinalist the following table has

been prepared

Game	WC  Size	Top 4   Finisher	Winners	Finalist	Semi Finalists	WC Size to Winner Ratio	WC Size to Top 4 Finishers Ratio	CWC  Size	CWC  Size
Football	32	24	8	4	12	4	1.33	20	12
Rugby	20	8	4	1	3	5	2.50	25	23
Baseball	16	16	8	5	3	2	1.00	10	9
Hockey	12	11	5	2	4	2.4	1.09	12	10
Cricket		9	5	1	3

 The 3rd column shows the present number of teams in the World Cup.The 4th Column shows the number of countries that finished in Top 4 or the Semi Finalists and next column shows number of countries that have won the world cup

It is known football or soccer is the most popular gamer around the world. As we can see from the table it is quite competitive. Though just 8 teams have won the world cup but 24 teams have reached the top 4. It shows it is not a closely guarded game in some nations rather very global.

While the other games are quite limited to some countries. Rugby has 8 teams which made to Semi Finals and 4 have won the cup. So as compared to football which has a ratio of 3:1 for Semi Finalists to Winner, the other games have a ratio of around 2. Cricket has even worse a ratio of 1.8.

Now we see the ratio of Total Teams in the World Cup to the total winner. Here we see Rugby is really aggressive. It has the highest ratio of 5:1. This is evident from the fact that Rugby has been very aggressive to expand into new countries. Hence the same format. This same aggressiveness should be used by the T20 format of Cricket. This means T20 should have 25 Teams

While Rugby is really aggressive we can see that Baseball and Hockey which presently are really not bullish about expanding into new markets have very conservative world cups. Baseball while is limited to few countries with huge GDP's like USA, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and China, hence feels no need to expand and on other hand Hockey is trying to save the game even in its traditional nations. Test Cricket should also follow such a conservative approach since it is highly technical hence the number of teams come out at 10 to 12. Since Test Cricket is 5 days in length, I would even reduce the number of teams for Test Championship to 5 to 6 Teams only.

Football is a established game however follows a middle path. It is neither conservative and nor too aggressive. It has a ratio of 4. Following this approach Cricket World Cup should have 20 teams

But but but, in soccer we have 24 Semi Finalists and 8 Winners a ratio of 4 where as in Cricket we have that Ratio of 1.8. Plus the length of football game is 2 Hrs while Cricket is 8 Hrs. Hence we cannot simply copy paste the approach. A look at number of teams in the World Cup to the number of Semi Finalists and applying the same ratio to cricket, we get number of teams in World Cup as 12. I would rather pick up this number as it would reflect the ideal number of teams. A middle path can also be taken which throws 16 teams since we want expansion based on 50 over World Cup too.

Based on second approach Rugby throws a number of number of teams as 23 (As compared to 25 in previous approach), hence for T20 world cup being aggressive we can have the number of teams as 24

Similarly on second approach in Baseball and Hockey throws the number of teams as 9 or 10 which is similar to last approach. Again the length of each game matter. We should reduce the number of teams to 4 to 6

Hence based on this analysis I would put up the number of teams for World Cup as follows

1. ICC Cricket World Cup:- 16 Teams
2. ICC World T20:- 24 Teams
3. ICC Test Championship:- 4 to 6 Teams

Hence Mr Haroon Lorgat, kindly do not keep the 2015 World Cup as a 10 nation. It would be utterly disgusting. Rather take the number to 16. If you are not willing to be that aggressive then you have to have minimum 12 teams. Wake up ICC

Chapter 5:-Europe Division 3 (T20) Championship 2011, World Twenty20 Qualifier

After Africa, Americas and EAP it was not time for Europe to start the qualification process for 2012 ICC World T20.  6 teams Slovenia, Czech Republic, Turkey, Estonia, Bulgaria and Sweden started their journey hopefully to qualify for the highest level possible for them. Though most teams were built on Expats or people of cricket playing nation's origin like Pakistani's, Indian, English etc there were few teams which had local players. Estonia had majority local players and many local players in the host team Slovenia.
The tournament was hosted by Slovenia and Austria. No team was making a debut in the tournament as all teams had been part of Div 5 and 6 of Europe in the OD format. The favorite of the tournament were Sweden along with the Hosts Slovenia. The tournament was quite low key in the media as compared to the tournament of Africa, America and EAP where the news regularly came out in the local newspapers. Perhaps the dominance of Soccer specially the Big 4 league and Champions Trophy is too how for others sports to make little space for themselves. Hopefully in future, the weight-age of cricket news will increase outside the British Isles also.
The tournament started with Estonia making a 240+ run score against the hosts which proved a task even higher than Everest. Sweden kept the tag of favorites and did not loose even a singe game and topping the pool qualifying for Div 2. Slovenia could not take much advantage of them being hosts. After Estonia they lost to Sweden and then finished the tournament losing the last match of tournament to Czech Republic.

The table was as follows

                P   W  NR   L   Pts    NRR
Sweden          5   5   0   0    10   4.78
Estonia         5   3   0   2     6   0.19
Slovenia        5   2   0   3     4  -0.15
Czech Republic  5   2   0   3     4  -0.43
Turkey          5   2   0   3     4  -2.36
Bulgaria        5   1   0   4     2  -1.12

Chapter 4:-Americas Division 2 (T20) Championship 2011, World Twenty20 Qualifier

After Belize won a promotion to Div 2, it was now time for action. Hosted in Suriname the winner would not only have promotion to Div 1 but also qualification to World Cricket League Div 8. There were 6 teams taking part:- Hosts Suriname, Div 3 promoted Belize, favorites Bahamas and Panama, Turks and Caicos & Brazil.

Bahamas who regularly play in Div 1 were the clear favorites. Suriname and Panama were expected to put some pressure on the favorites.

The tournament went along with 5 team fighting for the top spot. Brazil was outclassed by all teams. Finally Suriname winning 4 of the 5 matches came out on the Top. Panama, Belize and Turks & Caicos Islands ending with 6 points with Panama coming on top on Run Rate. The favorite's Bahama had a dismal tournament with just winning 2 games and 4 points.

The final points table was

                   P   W   L  Pts      NRR
Suriname           5   4   1    8     0.32
Panama             5   3   2    6     1.36
Belize             5   3   2    6     0.92
Turks & Caicos     5   3   2    6    -0.19
Bahamas            5   2   3    4    -0.56
Brazil             5   0   5    0    -2.58

Chapter 3:- EAP Division 2 (T20) Championship, World Twenty20 Qualifier

After Ghana in Africa then Costa Rica, Central America this time the tournament moved to Samoa in the Pacific Islands or Oceania. The country was formerly known as Western Samoa. This tournament marked the debut of 2 Asian teams of EAP region:- South Korea and Philippines. For South Korea it is a important step as they will be hosting the 2014 Asian Games which will feature Cricket in the T20 format. There were also reports on ICC website where South Koreans were seen practicing in snow for the tournament.
The second team which debuted were Philippines. A country with not a great sporting culture and being a member of ICC for over 4 years, this was a important milestone for the country where the game has been introduced by expats from Australia, India and Pakistan.

6 teams were taking part in the tournament. The 3 teams mentioned above debutant South Korea & Philippines, the hosts Samoa and three other teams Tonga, Cook Islands and Indonesia. Samoa, Cook Islands and Tonga were the favorites and much was expected from Indonesia who recently had been awarded best youth development program. Not much was expected from the debutant though.

When the tournament progressed it was to amaze many. Philippines performed very nicely coming second in pool and reaching the finals. The South Koreans also did decently having 1 victory in league and then coming 5th by defeating Indonesia in rank play-off's. The league standing were as follows


Teams          P   W   N   L   Pts      NRR
Samoa          5   5   0   0    10     3.63
Phillipines    5   4   0   1     8     0.11
Tonga          5   2   0   3     4     0.11
Cook Islands   5   2   0   3     4    -1.10
Indonesia      5   1   0   4     2    -1.99
South Korea    5   1   0   4     2    -2.85

Chapter 2:-Americas Division 3 (T20) Championship 2011, World Twenty20 Qualifier

After the ICC Africa Div 3 where 3 countries made their debut i.e. Cameroon, Seychelles, Mali then came Americas Div 2 where this time Falkland Islands were making their debut. It was a tournament where 6 teams were taking part :- Belize, Panama, Mexico, Chile, Debutants Falkland Islands and Hosts Costa Rica.

The format was simple, all teams were in one pool and the Top teams qualifies for Div 2. The favorites for the tournament were Belize. Many people had high hopes from Falkland Islands as they though they being a British colony would have cricket culture somewhat similar to Seychelles did in Africa Div 3.

The teams of Belize and Falkland Islands were former British colonies and inherited the cricket culture from there. Mexico, Chile, Costa Rica and Peru teams were full of expats from South Asia or Aus/NZ or Eng and they were the one's that have introduced cricket there.

The points tally of the tournament went as follows

TEAM               P   W   L   Pts    NRR
Belize             5   5   0   10     3.32
Peru               5   4   1    8     1.79
Chile              5   3   2    6    -0.07
Mexico             5   2   3    4    -1.01
Costa Rica         5   1   4    2    -1.59
Falkland Islands   5   0   5    0    -4.36

The format for 2015 World Cup

Lately there has been so much haggling on what should be the format of 2015 CWC. Australia and New Zealand simply want a 10 nation tournament similar to the 1992 CWC. They are scared that they would be having empty stadiums for SA V Can type of matches which India, SL and BD were able to do.

Now to add to the issue there is another problem. ICC has a agreement with ESPN Star Sports where there have promised a min of 45 matches in the World Cup and major teams like India playing atleast 6 matches. Also as part of the deal all 10 Test Nations need to play. This simply can be fulfilled by only 10 test teams and that ensures min 6 matches. The format of 2011 CWC also ensures the same but the hosts Aus and NZ are dead against it.  If we keep only 10 test nations then the Associates are against it and in long term may even threaten to go into the courts and ICC is set to loose.

Also there is another constraint. If ICC somehow convince the ESPN and introduce a qualifier removing the 10 test nation clause, then the most likely nation to lose out would be BD. BD is such a huge and emerging market, a place where cricket is like religion like it is in Ind, Pak or SL.

So many constraints and how do we solve the issue. I thought of a Idea, where in all test nations play, we have 2 associates, then each team plays 9 matches, and there are no meaningless matches like 2011 CWC but every match be it against Ind or Aus or be it against Ken or Can are very very important. The idea of the format came from 2011 IPL. What is the format I would try to explain

THE FORMAT

The table is quite self explanatory. All the 12 teams would be in 1 pool itself. They would play 9 instead of the 11 league matches. This means we have 54 league matches and then top 4 teams reach the SF and finals.

This means if Aus is playing SA or Neth every match is important as practically of the top 6 or 8 teams are fighting for the 4 spots. A loss to SA or Neth can be equally disastrous. Also if you see the format, the higher ranked teams have more matches with the lower ranked teams, and the lower ranked teams have more matches with higher ranked teams. For Eg Ind ranked 2, will not play the 2 matches against Rank 1 Aus and Rank 4 SA & Ass-2 i.e Rank 12 Neth do not play 2 matches against  Rank 9 BD & Rank 11 Ire. Hence over years the various bilateral ODI series will have a purpose and bad performances in those would mean tough times in World Cup. This format also ensures that the minnows like BD or Ire cannot go into next round based on 1 upset, and also they will be playing more tougher teams.

Ranked higher and playing low ranked doesn't mean all are bad matches. Ind will be playing Eng, SL, Pak, WI, NZ besides BD, Ire, Neth & Zim. So 5 very tough matches and every loss means more difficult to end in top 4 and same will be case loosing to say Ire

I also checked the matches of various types that happened in 2011, proposed 2015 and my 2015
Absolute Dead Rubbers?
Absolute dead rubbers are matches that happen between minnows i.e none of the team is in Top 8 (Ind, Aus, SA, SL, Eng, Pak, WI & NZ)
2011:- 6 (Can V Ken, Ken V Zim, Zim V Can, Ire V BD, BD V Neth, Neth V Ire)
P2015:- 1 (BD V Zim)
M2015:- 3 (Ire V BD, Neth V BD, Neth V Zim)
Hence my 2015 absolutely reduces the dead rubber matches as compared to 2011 CWC

Interesting T8 Matches?
T8 matches are that happen between any of the top 8 teams
2011:- 12
P2015:-28
M2015:-21

Again the interesting matches that everybody waits for increase from 12 to 21 as compared to 2011 CWC

Dead Rubbers?
The dead rubbers are the matches of T8 v other teams, for Eg SA V Neth. These matches are more of a formality to be there, but these matches also give the excitement of shock victories of minnows like Eng V Ire. These shock victories are remembered over long times. We should have such matches but they should not be in a majority. Then they drag the things.
2011:- 24
P2015:-0
M2015:-0
Why 0 in latter 2 beacuse for P8 every match has a significance. In 2015 it was a fight to finish in Top 4 in a pool from 4 teams of T8 and 7 teams. There was not much of fight to reach the next round. Here the T8 teams have a fight to finish in top 4 out of 8 T8 teams under the assumption they all defeat the minnows. Any loss to the minnows would be disastrous. This will keep the interest in all matches

Total Matches?
2011:- 42+7=49 Matches
P2015:- 45+3=48 Matches
M2015:- 54+3=57 Matches

So what is the benefit?
As compared to 2015 format of 10 teams, 12 teams format

1. Has more not matches
2. Has more number of absolute dead rubbers
3. Less number of T8 matches

So What are the Advantages?

1.  It is a Real "World" Cup where any deserving country has a chance to participate and not a closed colonial 10 nation tournament
2. It has space of top 2 associate to qualify for the world cup
3. It also is in line with ICC contractual obligation i.e all 10 test nations, min 45 matches and each test team playing a guarantee of 6 matches
4. It gives a meaning to the ODI rankings and adds interest to various bilateral series played over the years as part of FTP

Also since we have World Cup in NZ and Aus, we can make very good use of the timings. The matches in NZ would be day matches and in Aus we should have D&N matches. This would mean when the match in NZ ends then only the match in Aus will start. The distribution can be done in a way that times of the matches are convenient to the TV audience.This arrangement would mean that we can finish the league matches in 40 days with another week for SF and Finals. This would not drag the world cup for too long. Also teams play 9 matches in 40 days, i.e a match in 4.5 days. So a 3 to 4 day rest between the matches.

I Have mailed this proposal to ICC. I hope over time they look into this format and keep it for their world cup

Multi Tier Test System and how it fits in FTP

Over years there have been so many talks about giving Test Status to Bangladesh how it was a mistake. Many still believe they can and will improve. Then came in Ireland and Afghanistan. Ireland specifically with their performance have lead many to believe and push that they deserve Test Status. These teams have shown improvement and people follow cricket in their nations. Hence rightfully they should be given a chance to play the highest level and keep their players motivated. It would be good in long term to keep adding test teams for growth of cricket.

However then there is the issue of the Big 3-BCCI, CA and ECB who want to play more series amongst themselves and some against SL, Pak and SA. They will reluctantly be ready to host NZ or WI but hosting BD or Zim is a big no no. Now to add to that if you add to that another Test Nation and then ask them to take out time in FTP to play Ireland or Afghanistan instead of the top 3 which  would get them 10% of sponsorship money compared to playing Aus or Ind, why would they be willing to do that. For them additional Test nations is nation is burden on their resources.


I have always wonder what would be the right approach. The problem with present cricket structure is it is like a Communist System, creating different levels and assuming everything in level is equal. Unfortunately the sources of income come from a capitalistic system and ICC should realize that. In that light of that this what I have thought

What should be the Structure?
It should be a multi tier structure with promotion and relegation amongst these structure

Tier 1:- Aus, NZ, Eng, Zim, Ind, Pak, SL, BD, SA & WI
Tier 2:- Afg, Ken, Can, Neth, Scot, Nam, PNG, Ire, UAE & HK
IC Cup:- Ugan, Ber, Oman, Italy, USA, Den, Nep & Tanz

*those marked in red do not have a domestic tournament with dedicated players

 There should be a cycle of 4 years in which as part of FTP each nation in a Tier plays all other nations for atleast 3 Tests. ODI is the wish of nations to play or not but generally played along with Tests. If a country in Tier 1 wants to play a test against Tier 2 that is also allowed and counted as tests (Assuming say Eng goes into Tier 2 but still Ashes will be played). We are not dictating any one to play only a set of nation rather as a welfare state merely asking them to follow certain guidelines for the team in lower strata.

The IC Cup runs in the way it has been running i.e. a pool with 4 days FC matches happening over a time. Only difference it presently it happens in a single cycle for 2 years and now it would be 2 cycles over 4 years

At end of each cycle
Tier 1:-
Top 4 teams qualify for the Test Championship and winner is declared the Test Champion like World Cup champion
The Bottom 2 are relegated to Tier 2.
This keeps the excitement and teams not performing suffer and get relegated

Tier 2:-
Top 2 qualify for Tier 1
Bottom 2 relegated to IC Cup Div and loose test status for 4 years

IC Cup
The top 2 get Test Status and are promoted to Tier 2
The bottom 4 are relegated back to WCL and will have to qualify again

How will it fit in the FTP?
Getting the data from previous tours the time required for various forms of cricket in a tour are

Test:- 8 Days
ODI:- 4 Days
T20:- 2 Days
FC:- 6 Days
List A:- 3 Days

So if in 4 year cycle India has to have 9 tours to all test Tier 1 nations. Besides this India would like to have extra tour against Aus, SA, Eng, SL & Pak over these 4 years to have income stream and tours popular at home. This is beyond the requirement of FTP.


1.)The general Tour of India lets  Aus, Eng & SA typically is 4 Tests, 5 ODI, 3 T20, 1 FC and 1 List A

The tour would take :- 4x8+5X4+3X2+1X6+1X3= 67 Days

In a FTP there are 3 such tours and additional 3 Tours hence 67X6= 402 Days

2.)A tour against rest i.e NZ, Pak,SL, WI would be 3 Tests, 5 ODI, 2 T20, 1 FC and 1 List AThe tour would take:- 3X8+5X4+2X2+1X6+1X3= 57 Days
In a FTP there would be 4 tours with additional 2=1 Tour hence 57X5= 285 Days

3.)The tours for BD and Ire would be smaller with 3 Tests, 3 ODI, 1 T20, 1 FC and 1 List A (I have my doubts for List A but to be on the safer side lets include and move ahead)
The tour length here would be:- 3X8+3X4+1X2+1X6+1X3= 47 Days
The FTP will have just 2 tours making it 47X2= 92 Days

4.)Then India has to play IPL every year. Hence its schedule it needs to have a IPL Window of 50 Days
IPL Window=50X4=200 Days 

Like India have IPL window for themselves, Aus have it for Big Bash and so on. This is to give countries opportunities to earn from Domestic tournament which I believe would be a important source of income in future

5.)Then every year India would give a window for its international players for participating in  T20 tournament of other country as their players participate in for IPL. Remember these windows are not official ICC recognized but mere accommodation amongst boards and have to be considered.
Allowance for Other T20 Tournaments:- 20X4=80 Days
 However as there would be a T20 tournament in every country, accommodating with them would be in form of free days to players or holding a Test Series at that time and T20 specialist are free to go. 

6.)World Cup Window=60X1=60 Days
   

7.)World T20 Window= 20X2= 40 Days

8.)ICC Champion Trophy Window= 20X1= 20 Days

9.)Test Championship Window= 45X1= 45 Days

10.)Champions League Window:- 20X4= 80 Days  

11.)Rest:- 30X4= 120 Days

Hence a Total of 402+285+92+200+80+60+40+20+45+80+120=1424 Days, which is 356 days in a year leaving 9 days for any other activities 

In this schedule I have accommodated everything, 1 month rest to players in a year, window for IPL and other T20 leagues including Champions League and the favorite tours of the big 5 amongst themselves and compulsory tours to the other test nations test nations.

For the players perspective he gets 30 days rest, also players can be rested in some tours i.e when India tours WI, BD, Ire or NZ they can be rested. This has been built from the most busiest of schedules and when I analyzed  teams typically had the days cut in ODI series by playing triangular series or not playing T20. It is the test tours that are compulsory

How are ranking calculated for relegation?
When the cycle starts each team is supposed to play against all other 9 teams for at least 3 tests. There would be points given to teams based on their performance against that team a maximum of 20 points. That makes a max of 180 teams. If in 4 years they played 2 test series of 5 Test Series, then the points will be based on total of 10 tests.
The 20 points of Aus against Eng may be decided on 10 tests and against BD based on 3 Tests. How the points are to be given, a system can be worked out by ICC, which can be similar to what ICC uses in IC Cup

• Win – 14 points
• Draw if more than 10 hours of play lost – 7 points (otherwise 3 points)
• First Innings leader – 6 points (independent of final result)
• Abandoned without a ball played – 10 point

 So if in a Test Series between Aus and Eng, Aus won 3-2 and Aus got 54 Pts and Eng got 46 Pts and in second series Eng won 2-1 with 2 Drawn Test with Eng got 49 Pts and Aus got 38 Pts. Hence in total 92 Pts for Aus and Eng get 95 Pts. The 20 Pts would be split as Aus:- 9.84 and Eng 10.16. Hence in such a way each bi lateral series will have the points split and an overall table would be there.

This would make the whole Test Series besides really excitement. Think it is the series between Pak and BD and Pak want to win all the 3 matches taking first innings lead to come in Top 4 and qualify for Test Championship while BD require to draw one Test or Take an innings lead to be get out of bottom 2 and avoid relegation. Imagine the amount of excitement that will be there. It will make now the dead rubber 3-0 or 2-0 result series also interesting. Results will surely matter a lot.


What would be the implication of relegation and Promotion?
The present voting structure of ICC gives the absolute right to Test Nations. Bad performances are not punished. Also just being a test nation though not having a visible difference in level over an Associate (BD and Ire) gives an undue advantage like direct WC qualification and extra funding which is really unfair.
Being in Tier 1 should mean that each member would have 4 votes in the ICC, while in Tier 2 would mean that being reduced to 2 votes and IC Cup (Tier 3) will have 1 vote each. Hence from present 10 voting member 10 votes it would change to 28 voting members and  68 votes.

Presently  approximately over 4 years cycle ICC gives 20 M$ each to 10 Test nations, 2 M$ each to 6 ODI status nations and 1M$ each to the 4 HPP nations. So that is a total of 216 M$.
This amount is given to Test Nations to support their first class system, while to ODI status & HPP nations to support them for giving contracts to national team and developing talent.
The Test nations have got additional sources of money for hosting the teams for ODI and test series. Hence they have great means to support the FC structure.

In this system we should divide the funding in same ratio as the votes, so help the Tier 2 teams develop a FC structure also. Now the question arises how would we compensate the loss of funding to teams like Zim, BD or NZ which greatly depend on it. Answer is simple, instead of host taking it all money in a series and visitors just getting a participating fee, we go for a 80:20 divide. Hence when NZ hosts Aus or Eng they get large amounts in hosting, but they also get a huge chunk while they are visiting India. This would encourage teams like Ind, Aus to tour NZ, BD or WI rather than host them, which is great benefit and source of income. Since all the 9 teams would be playing there is a definite source of income through out the year. Also as every Test series has a reason points associated to it, the interest of people would be much higher and hence sponsorships are bound to increase. This way we ensure to compensate the teams. Now if they do not perform and go into Tier 2 (Say BD) then it is based on their performance.
The funding divide if we assume same amount of money is available then Tier 1 team gets 12.7 M$ (easily compensated with the FTP tours), Tier 2 gets 6.4 M$ (Good enough money to start and support a FC) and the IC Cup teams get 3.2 M$ (They can move to contracted players)

Over time if a team is relegated from Test to non Test (IC Cup) and it would have already started a FC based on funding, Then it would have a sudden loss in funding. However ICC will still keep supporting it for next cycle also with same funding level as a functioning FC should not be dismantled.  However even then if that team after 4 years is not able to reach Tier 2, then it will loose the funding. It would be believed during that time the team with that funding (As has an advantage over others in IC Cup as it has double funding and a Working FC structure) should be able to get back Test Status and also should have developed alternate funding sources.

Will the new voting structure affect the present political balance?
The present voting structure is divided on these lines

Asian Block (Ind, Pak, SL, BD):- 4/10=40%
White Block (Aus, NZ, Eng):- 3/10=30%
African Block (SA, Zim):- 2/10=20%
American Block (WI):- 1/10=10%

The proposed structure would make it as follows
Asian Block(Ind, Pak, Sl, BD, Afg, UAE, HK, Oman & Nep):- 24/68=35.3%
White Block (Aus, NZ, Eng, Ire, Neth, Scot, PNG, Italy & Den):- 22/68=32.3%
African Block(SA, Zim, Ken, Nam, Tan & Ugan):- 14/68=20.6%
American Block(WI, Can, Ber & USA):- 8/68=11.8%

Earlier the major block against expansion was the White block. To pass a resolution the Non White block needed 2/3rd votes i.e. 7 votes the exact no they had. Now to pass the resolution 2/3rd vote = 46 votes again what non white block has. Hence overall the power balance is same
But the Asian block and India would have less direct control and would require to take along much higher no of boards along. Also it would ensure that some colonial type decisions like 10 nation WC are not passed easily. However the Big 3 would need just 11 more votes (or 3 more Tier 1 nations) to block a decision which can be seen as too favorable and before time for lower strata of teams (Eg if a resolution is brought in for equal division of ICC money between all)

Hence it will be a more inclusive board and would help to take decision in general good for the world and not just 10 nations.

How would the qualification of World Cup Happen?
Suppose the World Cup is in 2019. This cycle would start for 2013 to 2017. In 2017 We also would have World Test Championship. Hence we would have a WCL cycle running from 2009 to 2013 and the Top 4 teams would qualify for IC Cup based on WCQ something similar to what happens now for WC qualification.
From 2013 to 2017 we have the 2 Tier and IC Cup running. After that all the teams would be ranked i.e
Tier 1
1 to 4 from World Test Championship
5 to 8 based in Tier 1 Ranking
9 & 10 Teams promoted from Tier 2
Tier 2
11 & 12 Teams relegated to Tier 2
13 to 18 based in Ranking in Tier 2
19 & 20 Promoted to Tier 2
Non Test
21& 22 Relegated from Tier 2
23 to 24 Based on IC Cup ranking
24 to 28 Relegated back to WCL

We should have a 16 nation World Cup
Top 12 Ranked teams directly qualify
WCQ for 8 teams from Rank 13 to 20 and Top 4 qualify

The teams in Tier 2 will have a very relaxed schedule as they will have funds to play short series and very rarely a double series with any team. Hence Tier 2 will be scheduled to finished 20 days before Tier 1 and this would be utilized as time for WCQ.

For World T20 and Champions Trophy would be direct qualification based on ranking.


So in the End
The message is pretty clear. For common man every test series will have a meaning. The qualification for World Cup would be based on a merit. Lets built a system of meritocracy and lets hope and push towards it
21 & 22.