One of the world’s greatest cricketers has come out in support of more Associate countries playing in future World Cups, not fewer, as is the ICC’s plan for 2019.

In an article on cricinfo.com yesterday, former Indian batsman Sachin Tendulkar, an ambassador for the World Cup on behalf of the ICC, called the ICC’s decision to reduce the number of teams in the 2019 World Cup “a backward step” in the global expansion of cricket.

The plan is to reduce the number of teams to ten which effectively kills the World Cup qualification dreams of countries such as Bermuda. However, Tendulkar told an audience at an exclusive dinner in Sydney that the ICC should instead be exploring ways to expand the next World Cup to as many as 25 teams.

He described the lack of competitive matches produced by Associate sides as unfair and also suggested Full Member nations should regularly play their “A” sides against Associate countries and strive to provide a “fair platform” for smaller cricketing countries.

“I found out the next World Cup would only be ten teams, which is slightly disappointing because as a cricketer I want the game to be globalised as much as possible and, according to me, this is a backwards step,” Tendulkar said. “We’ve got to find ways of encouraging the lesser teams.”

Tendulkar also contradicted the views of Davie Richardson, the ICC chief executive, who defended the planned reduction of teams from 14 to 10, by suggesting “the World Cup itself, the game’s premium event, without exception should be played between teams that are evenly matched and competitive”.

Richardson’s statement has been widely challenged, with only one match so far between Full Member nations — New Zealand’s one-wicket victory over Australia — considered to be competitive. In stark contrast, some of the matches between Associates have provided the most keenly fought contests, such as Ireland scoring a shock win over West Indies in their first match and Afghanistan capping off their remarkable rise in qualifying for the World Cup by overcoming Scotland in a final-over thriller.

“The lesser teams have, in each and every World Cup, always surprised top teams,” Tendulkar said. “And they can do it on a consistent basis only if they’re given a fair platform to express their talent.

“Right now, they get up after four years on the cricket world’s biggest platform and they’re expected to play and compete with the likes of Australia, South Africa, India, New Zealand, West Indies, Sri Lanka, so many top sides. It’s unfair to them.”

Since the 2011 World Cup, Ireland have played only 11 one-day internationals against Full Member nations. Their captain, William Porterfield, has been joined by his Scotland counterpart — Preston Mommsen — as well as a host of players and officials from both Associate and Full Member sides, in calling for a “level playing field”.

An online petition asking the ICC to reverse the decision to cut the number of World Cup teams has gathered more than 15,000 signatures.

Tendulkar said he believes cricket’s global fan base will only grow if the Associates improve to the level where they can be consistently competitive and he believes the first step is to schedule regular matches against second-string sides from the Full Members countries.

“Why not get Australia A, England A, New Zealand A, South Africa A, New Zealand A, India A, everyone, to go and visit these countries and play them on a regular basis,” Tendulkar said. “And see, not just 14 teams, but how can we get to 25 teams participating in the next World Cup.

“It is not just about the top six or seven sides. If we are to globalise this game we have to get more and more people excited about cricket and the fan following only follows the result.

“If the results are good then you have more fans, so it’s important that they play good cricket consistently for a longer period, not just one good performance and then suddenly they go underground for four years and then turn up if they do well in those qualifying rounds.

“So I would say it’s something the ICC needs to look into and I hope they look into it.”