The former president of the International Cricket Council has attacked the ECB for being “self-serving” and “putting its own interests above world cricket” for its role in reducing the Cricket World Cup to 10 teams.

The 2019 World Cup will feature only 10 sides, down from 14 in 2011 and 2015. Under the round-robin format, each competing team is guaranteed a minimum of nine games in the competition, which will take place in England and Wales and last between May 30 and July 14.

Ehsan Mani, the president of the ICC between 2003 and 2006, has accused the ECB, India and Australia of pushing through the reduced-team tournament for their own commercial interests, claiming it was “a terrible thing to do”.

The move was voted through by the 10 Test teams in 2010, but has not been reviewed despite vocal claims about the damage it will do to the world game. Mani says the ECB’s support for the decision harms the sport as it means improving sides such as Scotland, Ireland and Afghanistan are less likely to qualify.

“It was all for commercial reasons, it had nothing to do with cricketing reasons,” Mani told The Daily Telegraph. “It was purely for financial reasons - a terrible thing to do.