Former Ireland skipper Jason Molins has launched a scathing attack on the International Cricket Council following the decision to axe associate nations from the 2015 Cricket World Cup.
Despite pulling off an historic victory over England last month, Ireland will be prevented from competing at the tournament in Australia and New Zealand.
The ICC wants to shorten the format of the competition following a seven-week long stint on the sub-continent and will only allow the 10 Test nations to take part instead of 14.
That means that Ireland, who have instead been given the chance to qualify for the 2019 World Cup in England, will be forced to miss out on the opportunity to build on their encouraging campaign.
"This is a massive kick in the teeth for Irish cricket," blasted Molins. "The ICC doesn't care about the long-term development of the game and this proves it.
"It makes Irish cricket much less attractive for sponsors and surely now some of the players will be looking at moving to play for England.
"To exclude Ireland is just so disappointing but it really doesn't surprise me. Who would have thought 15 years ago that Ireland would get to the World Cup and beat England? That should have been a springboard but now we're not going to be able to build on it."
Ireland are rated as the 10th best one-day side in the world but Zimbabwe's status as a Test playing nation pushes them ahead in the pecking order. Molins said: "We're better than Zimbabwe and should be able to compete."
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