West Indian cricket legend Michael Holding believes expanding the number of non-Test playing nations participating in the World Cup was a flawed idea that ultimately devalues the competition.

On the Island for a brief stay as guest speaker at Bermuda Cricket Board’s World Cup banquet on Saturday night, the fast bowling great and straight-talking commentator said yesterday that while he hoped Bermuda acquitted themselves well, in principle he felt that only the top-ranked Associate country should be allowed to take part.

The International Cricket Council’s decision to gradually increase the number of qualifying berths from one to the current level of five will, he said, create a slew of dull, one-sided games, humiliate and discourage most of the cricketing minnows taking part and lower the entertainment value for fans.

“Let me first say that I am here to support Bermuda cricket and I really do hope they do themselves justice at the World Cup,” said the famously deep-voiced, 53-year-old who first came to Bermuda in 1975 with the Jamaican national side.

“But I do not believe the World Cup should go on for as long as it does (almost two months) and that is partly because there are far too many teams in the competition who are not good enough to be there.

“I’ve argued about this with the ICC for some time. I simply do not believe that if you come fourth in the ICC Trophy that you should be entitled to play in the World Cup.

“It does not make sense to me. What is gained by a team playing in the World Cup and getting absolutely hammered? In my opinion it is counter-productive.

“What I believe should happen is that all the non-Test playing nations should continue to play amongst themselves, to have their own competition where only the top-ranked country goes through to the World Cup. I see nothing wrong with giving the smaller teams the odd tour and a few games against the bigger teams from time to time. And I think the ICC should continue to invest in non-Test playing nations to improve their cricket and their infrastructure and things like that.

“But it’s a big jump from that to having six non-Test nations all playing against the cream of the crop. It’s not good for cricket.”

As a fiercely proud West Indian, meanwhile, Holding is desperate for the World Cup in the Caribbean — which begins early next month — to be seen as a success.

And he is optimistic that despite reports of poor ticket sales, stadium construction delays and tourist visa problems, all the kinks in preparation “will eventually be ironed out”.

He also realises that a strong run by the West Indies team is essential.

“I’m really looking forward to it. It’s a very exciting time for the whole Caribbean,” said Holding, who took 298 Test wickets in only 60 matches through an international career that spanned 12 years.

“There have been some problems in some aspects of the preparation, but the logistics of organising a World Cup which is spread out over a region made up of many sovereign nations, with different laws, governments and currencies, was always going to be hard.

“But I’m hoping things will work themselves out. We tend to do things at the last minute in the Caribbean — it’s part of our culture. Even on the morning of a Test match there’s always people hammering in nails somewhere or somebody painting something. It’s the same with tickets as well. People in the Caribbean don’t buy tickets months in advance, they tend to do it on the day of the game or a couple of days before.

“That’s just the way it is but I think you’ll find once the competition gets underway things will run pretty smoothly.

“Another aspect which will be important is the performance of the West Indies team. I’m not saying they have to win it but I think they’ve got to get to at least the semi-finals to keep the interest levels high for as long as possible.

“I think we’ve got a good one-day side, though we’re a little inconsistent at the moment. But we got through to the final of the Champions Trophy so we are capable of beating the very best on our day.”