A cure for cricket's cancer

September 16, 2007

The World Twenty20 has shown that the shortest format is one where the minnows can compete with the major sides on a more even footing © AFP

If the ICC does offer up prayers for the game, they appear to have been answered in the form of Twenty20 cricket. Used wisely, the shortest and latest fad could resolve some of the ills that wrack the game, the main one being overworked star players.

In order to cater for the need to globalise the game, the next ICC World Twenty20 should be expanded from 12 to 16 teams. Because the games are so condensed, even an expanded Twenty20 competition with a best-of-three final series could be completed in around two and a half weeks, a far cry from the nearly two-month long World Cup that everyone had to endure in the Caribbean.

With the urge for globalisation catered for in the Twenty20 format, the 50-overs World Cup could return to being the elite tournament it was initially intended to be. The number of teams could be reduced to ten, with a schedule that replicated the one used in the 1991-92 tournament where each team played every other in the round-robin stage. Then, rather than a semi-final and final, a best-of-three final series could decide the best 50-over team in the game. That way a truly competitive World Cup could be completed in around a month with the best team unearthed in the fairest manner.

Freed from the albatross that is the need for globalisation, the ICC could address the dilution of Test cricket that has occurred in recent times. This has resulted from granting top-level status to teams that don't warrant the accolade. By reducing the number of accredited teams to the eight major playing nations, the ICC could then run a viable Test world championship that would unveil the best side in the game's premier format.

At the same time there would be a second-tier competition of four-day games for those teams that have the potential to be promoted to elite Test status in the future.

By restructuring in such a way, the ICC would then be better placed to produce a balanced playing schedule that caters for the need to finance the development of the game without working the star players into the ground. What is called for is a simple change of focus from quantity to quality in cricket matches. If the problem of players being overworked isn't addressed, the fans are likely to become disillusioned with the game and the players susceptible to quick, easy money from either rich entrepreneurs or greedy gamblers.

An introduction to the game in its shortest form would whet the appetite of a youngster, but it should then lead to a program of longer matches for the players who have the potential to reach the elite level

The World Twenty20 has shown that the minnows can compete with the majors to the point where not only are there upsets but where the number of annihilations are likely to be greatly reduced. By concentrating the globalisation of the game purely in this format, the twin problem areas of the last World Cup - a series of uncompetitive matches that take an interminably long time to complete - are immediately overcome.

After just four matches the Twenty20 format had reduced Ricky Ponting to a category he has never experienced in a World Cup, that of losing captain. While it's easy to forget that upsets also occur in the 50-over game - Zimbabwe beat Australia in their first ever ODI, at the 1983 World Cup - it's safe to assume that in the shorter format the minnows have a greater chance of competing on a playing field that is at least as level as Lord's.

The minor teams could narrow the gap between themselves and the majors by playing more Twenty20 cricket against accredited first-class teams. For the teams from Europe and other countries that don't have too much of a cricket background, Twenty20 competitions are far more viable than games that take a day or more to play.

If the ICC was to restructure the schedule in such a manner, the key to future success would then lie in the way young cricketers are developed. A steady diet of Twenty20 matches from school age to first-class level would not develop fully rounded cricketers. However, an introduction to the game in it's shortest form would whet the appetite of a youngster, but it should then lead to a program of longer matches for the players who have the potential to reach the elite level.

The World Twenty20 has captured the imagination of a lot of people, including many with a traditional cricket background. How the future of the format is planned could decide whether cricket really does become a global game or a relic of the past.

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