With the sport increasingly dominated by franchises, teams are often deprived of talents they have developed and nurtured.
Even at Test level, the likes of New Zealand and world Test champions South Africa do not have access to some of their best players due to more lucrative franchise contracts.
Five-Test series are now the domain of England, Australia and India.
Opportunities are few and far between for teams outside the big three, though part of the ICC’s strategy is to “give more nations a global platform”.
Cricket Scotland receives approximately £1.3m per year as part of the ICC’s revenue share to fund all their programmes, men’s and women’s, approximately 10% of what a full member such as Ireland receive.
Cricket World Cup League 2 is far from the highest profile ODI cricket in the world, but to these sides it is everything – a potential route to the World Cup and a chance to prove themselves against the big hitters.
Players give their all for their country, not always knowing when the next match will come.
Max O’Dowd’s magnificent 158 not out in Dundee helped the Dutch chase down Scotland’s total of 369, the highest chase in associate history.
The celebrations from O’Dowd and his team-mates were joyous as they ended a four-match losing streak.
And yet, they don’t have another ODI scheduled in 2025.
These nations need more fixtures, but with that comes extra cost.
Whether it comes from the ICC, governments, or commercial sponsorships, associate members argue they need more funding to build on the impressive foundations that already exist.
At least in T20, Scotland and the Netherlands have World Cup qualifiers to play in July with the massive carrot of playing at a World Cup in India and Sri Lanka next year.
Reaching a stage like that is imperative for smaller nations in the long quest for more exposure.
