Best ODI tournament ever

[Neil Pickup]

The Super Eight is still messed up though. Confusing.

How? Everyone plays everyone (except the team they already played) - it worked great in 92.

[Sanz]

Nehru Cup was great because

1.It had all test playing nations minus NZL, a thing which is very rare now so this makes it unique.

2.It was single league basis and vey competitive you can judge it by the league table below.

MRF Series Nehru Cup - Points Table

P W L RR pts
India 5 3 2 4.631 6
England 5 3 2 4.518 6
Pakistan 5 3 2 4.296 6
West Indies 5 3 2 4.127 6
Australia 5 2 3 4.364 4
Sri Lanka 5 1 4 4.050 2

The first 4 teams qualify for the semi finals

3. It had a gripping final decided in the last over between the two best ODI teams at that
time.

So Sanz how can you say it was not a good tournament.

First of all WI was not really the best or even second best team in 1989. Pakistan sure was a great team and the undisputed best team of late 80s and early-mid 90s, India-australia-England at the 2nd level, WI and NZL 3rd level followed by the strong minnow SL.

I watched the tournament, it had an unofficial inaugral D/N match between India/Pak in the Asiad Stadium (once again named after Nehru), which was won by Pak.It was a good/decent tournament but to say that it is in top 3 is just ridiculous, I watched the series and there are many series that are better than this.

[Jungle Jumbo]

How? Everyone plays everyone (except the team they already played) - it worked great in 92.

But IIRC everyone played everyone in 1992 - was clear and simple and went some way to make the 92 World Cup so great. The Super Eight unsettles the balance of the tournament.

Bit off topic, but I would prefer four groups of four (24 matches), with the first two teams in each group progressing to the second group stage, made up of two groups of four (24+12=36). Semis and final give 39 matches.

[Xuhaib]

First of all WI was not really the best or even second best team in 1989. Pakistan sure was a great team and the undisputed best team of late 80s and early-mid 90s, India-australia-England at the 2nd level, WI and NZL 3rd level followed by the strong minnow SL.

I watched the tournament, it had an unofficial inaugral D/N match between India/Pak in the Asiad Stadium (once again named after Nehru), which was won by Pak.It was a good/decent tournament but to say that it is in top 3 is just ridiculous, I watched the series and there are many series that are better than this.

WI were easily equal to Pak at that time, I think a year before there was a BnH series in Aus and Pak literally got thrashed by Windies who ended up winning it.

I think the problem with ODI's is that since they are too many it means you only remember the WC or tournaments which your team won. The good thing about Nehru cup was it was extreamly unpredictable for e.g Windies loosing to Lanka (who were minnows at that time) and then beating India in the next match, before the start of the last round all 6 teams were in a position to reach the semis which shows its high competitivness. The only good thing it lacked was a truly memorable ODI match though I seriously believe the final would make the list of 25 best Odi's of all time.

[marc71178]

It concerns me a bit the the porposed "Super 8" format for next year's tournament might mean the same thing happens unless, say, Bangladseh can spring a shock.

More of a shock would be England making the Super 8

[FRAZ]

Super 8 is just perfect I guess . No doubt about it . It is going to be the best thing .

[FRAZ]

That's why the '96 format was weak,.

Doesn't logicaly concern with the 96 WC (may be),but one strong reason that I hate the WC 96 is a semi final b/w Windies and Aussies . That was the point in the history from where Windies graph just fell down completely (Although they were going down already) .But that was a great minus and I guess Richie still had atleast 3 years left in him . He was a great captain but he just could not pull that semi off . You never know if Windies were going to win the world cup or not if they were going to reach the final . But my heart says that "semi final b/w Aus and WI was a match which really messed up the WI future graph" .

[Craig]

World Cup 1999.

[_Ed_]

The VB Series in 2001/2002 between Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa was a pretty good tournament. I think the thing that really made it for me though was yet another Michael Bevan match-winning innings.

Aus v NZ - 29 Jan 2002

Just when I'd almost forgotten it.

Great innings though.

[wpdavid]

Just when I'd almost forgotten it.

Great innings though.

Must have been. I never saw the game, but the scorecard asks some questions about Fleming's captaincy like why on earth did Bond not get to bowl his full 10 overs in the circumstances? Or Nash come to that. Anyway, ancient history now.