Skip to main content

Taking the good with the bad

The announcement (finally) of the Test Championship gladdened my heart as I'm sure it did for all other cricket lovers who still favour the format over the limited overs ones. And while the minimum requirement of 16 Tests in each four year cycle feels really low, at least its good news for the likes of Sri Lanka, West Indies, Bangladesh, and Zimbabwe who struggle to get enough Tests scheduled otherwise. The increased gap between world T20 tournaments will also ensure the right level of desire in the teams for that title.

What is not so good news is the selection of the venues for the different world tourneys. The list puts down on paper for the first time a fact that cricket fans world over have known for some time, which is that all the power and control at the ICC sits in the hands of the Indian, English, and Australian cricket boards. Bangladesh are the hosts of the next World T20, and New Zealand get a share of the next ODI World Cup in 2015 but after that the hegemony sets in. Total representation (as hosts) for South Africa, Pakistan, New Zealand, West Indies, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and Zimbabwe till 2023? Zero. Zilch. Is this the first sign of an eventual two-tier system between the major cricket playing countries?
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Happy New Year .....

....well almost......its only 2 months in to 2009 so I guess its not terribly late for the first post of the year :-) The end of 2008 and the beginning of 2009 has been quite engrossing primarily because of the tussle for supremacy between Australia and South Africa. And its interesting how once again, the Aussies are showing that the biggest mistake 'pundits' can make is to write them off. But I am jumping way ahead. The series in Australia was a real cracker and it was great to see the Springboks actually delivering so well on their abilities for once and not choking at the big moments. And in Steyn, Amla, de Villiers, Duminy and Morkel they have some real stars in the making and should be a strong team for some time to come. Australia's struggles on the other hand were not surprising after their performance in India. The same guys, i.e. Hayden and Lee continued to underwhelm and with the inexplicable selection of Symonds made things worse for Ricky Ponting. They were a l...
Post a Comment
Read more

Season ending review

Well, officially the season hasn't quite ended since the last one-dayer between Australia and South Africa still remains to be played but given that its a dead rubber, the season is as good as over. And what a season its been. Probably as much action off-field as on it, but its been riveting throughout and the quality of Test cricket overall (apart from the WI-Eng series) has been top-notch and a welcome reminder of why I like the 5 day format the most. The two Aus-SA series have in particular been fascinating to watch though a lot of it has been driven by Australia waiting too long to make much needed changes. South Africa though has truly come on in leaps and bounds and though they will be losing Kallis and Ntini sooner rather than later, their decreasing reliance on them over the last year or so has meant that they won't be missed much. Their one-day game has come along strongly too and they should have a genuine shot at the World Cup this time. Australia on the other hand h...
Post a Comment
Read more

Of backward selections and England's future

A couple of interesting selectorial decisions recently by England and India (and actually as its turning out Australia as well!). For once I think the England selectors didn't panic and showed the right thinking by not picking either Key or Ramprakash for the Oval Test. And luckily for them, both Bell and Trott have performed well enough to vindicate the decision. India on the other hand have actually gone the other way bringing Dravid back to the one-day squad. I'm a bit ambivalent on that one. While the decision to leave out Rohit Sharma and retain Raina was certainly the right one, bringing back Dravid is questionable. It would have been a bolder decision to pick someone like Kohli or Rahane who both played really well in the Emerging Players Trophy recently, mainly because Dravid is quite unlikely to feature in the 2011 World Cup so why bring him back now? As for the Aussies, they will certainly be regretting not picking Nathan Hauritz for the Oval. A defensive decision if...
Post a Comment
Read more