PakistaniGuyUK
Banned
OTL Israel isn’t really a ‘sporting nation’ as such, neither its teams nor its players particularly well-known internationally. But what if in some ATL cricket had somehow managed to establish itself as the main (default) sport that Israel became relatively good at?
OTL Israel Cricket
Cricket isn’t exactly an alien sport to Israel so this isn’t ASB. It does have a relatively long history in the country. Israel joined the ICC in 1974. Its first international 50-over game was against the USA in 1979. Since then the nation has participated in 7 World Cup qualifiers (50-overs game) though the ICC Trophy never qualified. Its OTL involvement hasn’t been without controversy. In 1974 Pakistan was the only nation that opposed Israel joining the ICC. In the 90s participation in World Cup qualifiers in Malaysia caused friction with Islamic parties (Malaysia doesn’t recognize the State of Israel). Even its 2006 qualifiers were met with protests due to the Gaza War. Israel played its first international on home soil in 2007 and their first T20 in 2022.
ATL
What if for whatever reason Israel winds up focussing on Cricket as a main sport. There could be 2 timelines for this:
Early entry into the game
By the time the 1975 World Cup is played, Israel can put out a decent enough team that could potentially get invited to the tournament in England. Pakistan protests its ICC membership and either (like South Africa) the invitation is withheld to Israel or Pakistan refuses to show up to the tournament. Or both participate and are kept in separate groups, the organisers hoping they don’t meet in the knockout stages. Or Pakistan gets suspended. No idea how it would it would all play out!
By 1979 Israel cannot continue to be shut out. Allowed to participate in the ICC Trophy they end up winning the tournament thus qualifying for a berth at the World Cup in England. So at this point does the ICC decide to suspend its membership or does the ICC suspends Pakistan’s (and Bangladesh’s membership) for disrupting the game?
Late entry into the game
Israel's course follows Bangladesh, Ireland and the Netherlands as late arrivals to the game. Its only in the 2000s that Israeli cricket starts getting noticed. Israel qualify for the 2003 Cricket World Cup through the ICC Trophy, and on and off for subsequent World Cups and T20s doing modestly well while playing some entertaining cricket and producing a few shocks along the way (the odd win against England, NZ etc).
Yet even a late entry will pose problems. Now you not only Pakistan but also Bangladesh, Afghanistan, the UAE, Oman who are playing cricket as well as a large number of South Asian heritage players in various international teams who will refuse to play against Israel. And on top of this non-Asian nations may protest or boycott Israeli cricket in periods where Israel is seen as starting a war of aggression (i.e. Gaza).
How will the ICC cope with the potentially disastrous butterflies of having Israel becoming a cricketing nation?
How will a successful Israel team alter the dynamics of World cricket?
Will the ICC come to a decision to somehow suspend Israel to avoid all future complications?
Or suspend Pakistan indefinitely (and any other country that refuses to play Israel) thus resulting in Pakistan leaving cricket forever and focussing on other sports such as Hockey, Squash?
Or can a middle ground be reached where both are ICC members but Pakistan are allowed to forfeit any game where they come up against Israel?
Or will having such early contact with Israel and Pakistan mean sporting compromises will have to be made (both agree to play each other despite politics) thus paving the way for unique cultural exchanges/interactions unheard of in OTL?
OTL Israel Cricket
Cricket isn’t exactly an alien sport to Israel so this isn’t ASB. It does have a relatively long history in the country. Israel joined the ICC in 1974. Its first international 50-over game was against the USA in 1979. Since then the nation has participated in 7 World Cup qualifiers (50-overs game) though the ICC Trophy never qualified. Its OTL involvement hasn’t been without controversy. In 1974 Pakistan was the only nation that opposed Israel joining the ICC. In the 90s participation in World Cup qualifiers in Malaysia caused friction with Islamic parties (Malaysia doesn’t recognize the State of Israel). Even its 2006 qualifiers were met with protests due to the Gaza War. Israel played its first international on home soil in 2007 and their first T20 in 2022.
ATL
What if for whatever reason Israel winds up focussing on Cricket as a main sport. There could be 2 timelines for this:
Early entry into the game
By the time the 1975 World Cup is played, Israel can put out a decent enough team that could potentially get invited to the tournament in England. Pakistan protests its ICC membership and either (like South Africa) the invitation is withheld to Israel or Pakistan refuses to show up to the tournament. Or both participate and are kept in separate groups, the organisers hoping they don’t meet in the knockout stages. Or Pakistan gets suspended. No idea how it would it would all play out!
By 1979 Israel cannot continue to be shut out. Allowed to participate in the ICC Trophy they end up winning the tournament thus qualifying for a berth at the World Cup in England. So at this point does the ICC decide to suspend its membership or does the ICC suspends Pakistan’s (and Bangladesh’s membership) for disrupting the game?
Late entry into the game
Israel's course follows Bangladesh, Ireland and the Netherlands as late arrivals to the game. Its only in the 2000s that Israeli cricket starts getting noticed. Israel qualify for the 2003 Cricket World Cup through the ICC Trophy, and on and off for subsequent World Cups and T20s doing modestly well while playing some entertaining cricket and producing a few shocks along the way (the odd win against England, NZ etc).
Yet even a late entry will pose problems. Now you not only Pakistan but also Bangladesh, Afghanistan, the UAE, Oman who are playing cricket as well as a large number of South Asian heritage players in various international teams who will refuse to play against Israel. And on top of this non-Asian nations may protest or boycott Israeli cricket in periods where Israel is seen as starting a war of aggression (i.e. Gaza).
How will the ICC cope with the potentially disastrous butterflies of having Israel becoming a cricketing nation?
How will a successful Israel team alter the dynamics of World cricket?
Will the ICC come to a decision to somehow suspend Israel to avoid all future complications?
Or suspend Pakistan indefinitely (and any other country that refuses to play Israel) thus resulting in Pakistan leaving cricket forever and focussing on other sports such as Hockey, Squash?
Or can a middle ground be reached where both are ICC members but Pakistan are allowed to forfeit any game where they come up against Israel?
Or will having such early contact with Israel and Pakistan mean sporting compromises will have to be made (both agree to play each other despite politics) thus paving the way for unique cultural exchanges/interactions unheard of in OTL?
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