Ireland and Afghanistan are looking forward to the ICC meeting in London in the hope that they would get the status of test playing countries. Among the topics up for discussion in the ICC board meeting this weekend is the structure of Test cricket, and whether the five-day format should be opened up to more than the current 10 Test sides. Specifically, it is Ireland and Afghanistan who are knocking on the door and waiting to see if the Full Member boards open up that possibility.
Prospects for such a development have become brighter in recent times. Ireland's inter-provincial competition was awarded first-class and List A status in October 2016. Afghanistan's application to have first-class status granted to their multi-day domestic competition, meanwhile, is due to be examined at the Chief Executives Committee meeting on Thursday.
Afghanistan recently declared their ambitions of achieving Full Member status. Their premier national competition has five teams compared to Ireland's three-team elite structure, while Afghanistan's domestic crowd numbers run well into the thousands, helping to satisfy the most nebulous aspect of ICC criteria: proving an established "cricket culture". As such, Afghanistan's administrators are confident that at the very least their domestic competition will be awarded the same first-class status as Ireland's, and perhaps more.
