Last updated June 30 2011 6:21PM

Scotland fear that the ICC’s decision to cut the number of entrants to the World Twenty20 will discourage young players from playing the sport.

The ICC’s announcement has provoked an angry reaction from the associate nations after the governing body declared that it will limit the tournament to 12 teams from 2012.

Ben Smith, of Cricket Scotland, said that the cuts will make it difficult to attract youngsters into the game, despite the country putting in a lot of time and money into grass roots cricket.

“You can only get as good as the opposition you play and if we are denied the chance to do that then it is going to be very difficult,” he said.

“Not playing [in the World Twenty20] makes it hard to adapt to specific parts of cricket. Potentially, it means our players and other associate members will not be able to learn the game.

“The decision means it will become hard for us to improve our game and close the gap on bigger nations.”

It had been expected that the 2012 tournament in Sri Lanka would be contested by 16 nations, with six places available for associate and affiliate members. However only two spots will now be available for the associate nations.

Full members of the ICC, including England, Australia and West Indies, automatically qualify to participate in the Twenty20 World Cup, but associate and affiliate members must qualify. These members are not permitted to play Test Cricket but the governing body grants one-day international and T20 status to them based on their success in the world cricket league.

The associate members are up in arms over the decision and are lobbied for a rethink yesterday at the ICC’s annual conference in Hong Kong.

Ireland and Scotland could be badly affected by the announcement as the two nations are twelfth and sixteenth respectively in the T20 rankings. Scotland have appeared in both of the T20 world cups so far and Ireland impressed in 2009, reaching the Super Eight.

Cricket Ireland was unavailable for official comment but its disappointment was evident when Barry Chambers, the media manager, posted on Twitter: “T20 World cup being reduced to 12 teams from 16 originally planned? Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away!”

The ICC has resisted pressure from minor nations, despite having made a major U-turn regarding the next 50-over World Cup, overturning their decision to cut the number of countries participating in it.

But Cassim Suliman, the African Cricket Association chief executive, vowed to continue fighting. He said: “We will challenge that decision, we won’t sit back.

“It’s about giving opportunity to everybody and globalising the game. We still have time to work on this and we will.”

The governing body has acknowledged the furious reactions from certain nations, with Haroon Lorgat, the chief executive, saying: “The ICC acknowledges their disappointment, but the decision to have 14 teams in the ICC Cricket World Cup and 12 teams in the ICC World Twenty20 is a return to the current format of ICC events.

“We know that development is central to the ICC and our new strategic plan 2011-15 is designed to build a bigger, better global game.”

The decision will have a notable knock-on effect on all the 35 associate members, who have already began qualification for the tournament in 2012. The ICC announced on Tuesday that four non-Test playing nations would compete in a 14-team World Cup in Australia and New Zealand in 2015.

Last updated June 29 2011 2:50PM

England will play a Test and one-day series against Pakistan in the United Arab Emirates this winter, it was confirmed today.

Andy Flower’s side will play three Test matches, four one-day internationals and three Twenty20s in the Middle East, because Pakistan are banned from hosting international cricket on home soil after an attack by gunmen on the Sri Lanka touring team bus in 2009.

England have previously played limited-overs matches in the UAE, including two Twenty20 fixtures against Pakistan in February 2010, but never a Test. Both venues that will be used on the tour, in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, did host Test matches in late 2010, however.

The detailed itinerary for England’s winter programme against Pakistan, to take place in January and February, is still to be announced.

It will be the first time the two teams have met in competitive cricket since Pakistan’s controversial tour to England last summer, when the touring team were defeated 3-1 in a Test series marred by spot-fixing allegations.

Subsequently, the Pakistan bowlers Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Asif, as well as Salman Butt, the former captain, were banned from the sport. England went on to win a bad tempered one-day series 3-2.

Before the Middle East trip, England start a short tour to India beginning on October 4, featuring five one-day internationals and a Twenty20 match.

After the completion of the series in the UAE, England return to Britain for a short break before travelling to Sri Lanka for the final part of their winter programme in March.

England will play two Tests in Sri Lanka, the first held in Galle and the second in Colombo, before the tour concludes on April 7. However, no limited-over cricket has been scheduled.

The next time that England will travel to the country to play limited-overs competition will be for the 2012 World Twenty20, while they will return two years later for a programme of one-day fixtures against Sri Lanka.

England tour itinerary in India:

4 October: Arrive in Hyderabad

8 October: 50-over warm-up match, Hyderabad

11 October: 50-over warm-up match, Hyderabad

14 October: 1st one-day international, Hyderabad

17 October: 2nd one-day international, Delhi

20 October: 3rd one-day international, Mohali

23 October: 4th one-day international, Mumbai

26 October: 5th one-day international, Kolkata

29 October: Twenty20 international, Kolkata

England tour itinerary of Sri Lanka:

26-30 March: 1st Test, Galle

3-7 April: 2nd Test, Colombo

June 27 2011 8:07PM

Alastair Cook, England’s new one-day captain, appeared steely-eyed and determined as he prepares to take hold of his country’s captaincy reins for the second time tomorrow against Sri Lanka at the Kia Oval, but he admitted he still has a lot of work to do if he is to prove himself as an opening batsman in 50-over international cricket.

Cook had previously captained England to a 2-0 Test series win in Bangladesh last March, overseeing the side in the rested Andrew Strauss’s absence, but was appointed full-time ODI captain after England’s World Cup exit in April. In which Cook played no part.

While Cook has struggled to translate his run-scoring form from Test cricket into his 26 ODI matches to date (the batsman has made one century, 102 not out against India in 2007 at the Rose Bowl and averages 33) the Essex opener feels it will be a challenge to alter his game to suit one-day cricket.

“I’m nowhere near the finished article,” Cook said. “I’m 26 years old, I’ve got a lot of work to do and I’m prepared to do it.”

“I have scored a one-day hundred for England and I know I can score runs at the top of the order,” he added. “I’m excited that I’m in a good place to hopefully go and show that in the next few weeks.”

While Cook was under no illusions that his and England’s long-term goal is to build for the 2015 World Cup, he denied that the 50-over captaincy is a stepping stone to the same position in Test cricket.

“No, not really, I just see myself as a one-day captain. I’m only concentrating on tomorrow’s game and the series ahead to try and do the best job I can,” he said.

“The World Cup is in our thoughts, there’s no doubt about it, but we all know the only game which matters is tomorrow.”

Having played in three one-day internationals against Bangladesh in March 2011, where in each innings his strike-rate topped 90, Cook’s all-round ability with the bat has developed.

“As an international player, you’re always under pressure,” he said. “You always have to prove yourself and I’m no different now. I’m excited about that challenge of opening the batting and I think my one-day game has evolved since I last played.”

“Every time I wasn’t playing Test cricket I was going back to playing one-day matches for Essex as well so that’s part of the skills you need to get better and to have the ability to change things.”

Stuart Broad, England’s Twenty20 captain, is Cook’s vice-captain and the two are likely to discuss how to prevent Sri Lanka’s powerful batting line-up, which inflicted a nine-wicket defeat on England in Bristol on Saturday.