Twenty20 World Cup Thread

[Mike]

Seamer, I've taken washouts into consideration. There are reserve days in the schedule for possible washouts. It may mean that a team has to play two matches on consecutive days but that's why I suggested that larger squads be allowed to participate so bowlers can be rotated in the event of back-to-back matches.

There are two reserve days between the semis and final so that a washed-out semi can be played on a reserve day.

[sittingduck]

Well done India, I believe they had an understrength squad too, can't say I followed much of the cricket live ude to timezone conflicts but it sounded like an exciting finish to what is the best ICC run tournament in a long time.
Should this be a two-yearly deal replacing the champions trophy? I vote yes.

[Mike]

He also confirmed that the next World Cup would be much shorter, down to five weeks from seven. - BBC Cricket

It's good to read that the ICC have already decided to shorten the next ODI World Cup to five weeks. That's a positive step, I think.

[south beds mikey]

Originally Posted by sittingduck

Well done India, I believe they had an understrength squad too, can't say I followed much of the cricket live ude to timezone conflicts but it sounded like an exciting finish to what is the best ICC run tournament in a long time.
Should this be a two-yearly deal replacing the champions trophy? I vote yes.

I endorse everything you say here. A quite superb event, staged beautifully. My lot exploded like a bunch of rat bags as usual I'm afraid but thats par for the course. Much as it pained me at the time the highlight has to be the 6 sixes by Youvraj; magnificent hitting and a sight to behold.

On your last point this should absolutely be a bi-annual event and the champions trophy should be kicked in to touch where it belongs.

[Ernest]

Originally Posted by Mike

It's good to read that the ICC have already decided to shorten the next ODI World Cup to five weeks. That's a positive step, I think.

An even more possitive step would be to make this form of cricket into a knock out competition from the start, or after the first round robin.

This would produce shock results, but this would be a small price to pay to liven up the cricket WC, the last one saw some of the most boring cricket ever.

Off topic, I would like to see a test world cup, that would have to be on a knock out basis - but would be better than the present one day offering IMO.

[Rachael]

I really couldn't care less about pyjama cricket.. but I did find the last WC pretty farcical: reducing the games from 60 overs to 50 overs is pretty inexcusable... but what really undermined the tournament was the preference for completing games in a day (by reducing the overs per side) rather than using a second day to conclude a match.

The aspiration of a "World Cup" should be to provide the best players in the world the fairest opportunity imaginable to show what makes them special: that requires the longest possible games (as it is only in the middle overs of games, away from the craziness of powerplays and "death bowling", that real class becomes critical) - cutting the play short just turns a meaningful contest into something of a lottery.

The other thing the ICC need to sort ASAP is the balance between bat and ball: no contest is ever going to be worthy of the title "World Cup" if the pitches are unsporting and the games are rigged in favour of clean-hitting - pitches need to allow bowlers to dominate... batsmen should be taking their guard in the knowledge that only rank long hops and half volleys can be despatched... and the games need to proceed on the understanding that a ball in the right area should command respect.

With that said... Twenty20 should proceed on the same basis: I don't have a problem with the ICC jamboree being reduced from 50 overs to 20 overs a side... but games should be played on pitches where getting to three figures is really, REALLY tough - bowlers need to be in with a realistic chance of bowling maidens... and batsmen need to start the game thinking that survicing 20 overs is going to take something VERY special.

The key thing that's seemingly overlooked at present is the need for shorter games to be bowler's games: with XI wickets to get in 120 balls... bowlers really do need EVERYTHING stacked in their favour!!!