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Hints and Allegations: On reduction of Team numbers in the 2011 World cup

andruid

Cricketer Of The Year
This article on a leading website covering the top associate cricket nationsin Europe and most of the rest of the world seems to indicate at a short sighted betrayal of the ICC's own program to strengthen cricket outside its own traditional homelands for the sake of protecting the interests of full members. Discuss
 

Matt79

Global Moderator
They certainly need to make some changes to the format of the WC from what we saw in the West Indies.

I've previously advocated that a separate tournament be held in the lead up to the WC amongst the associate teams with the prize being the chance for the best two teams from that tournanent going into the WC.
 

silentstriker

The Wheel is Forever
I don't see the point of ODIs other than to bring the other countries to a higher level. IMO, it should include as many countries as is reasonable. I didn't like the format, but the # of countries is fine in WC.
 

Matt79

Global Moderator
AWTA.

Real incentive to put the associates in there, only to remove some of them once they are successful. 8-)
Well, that argument is a bit of a furphy IMO. Sure, Ireland put out Pakistan, but it was Bangladesh, a Test nation, that put out India. The real problem is the number of meaningless, unattractive mis-matches having half a dozen minnows in the showcase tournament of the sport creates.
 

skipper

School Boy/Girl Captain
If India and Pakistan were giants, then they should not lose to minnows. Since they lost to minnows, it means they are not giants. As simple as that. Deserved to be out.

- Indian fan
 

Janus

School Boy/Girl Cricketer
Well, that argument is a bit of a furphy IMO. Sure, Ireland put out Pakistan, but it was Bangladesh, a Test nation, that put out India. The real problem is the number of meaningless, unattractive mis-matches having half a dozen minnows in the showcase tournament of the sport creates.
Surely better than several dozen meaningless super eight matches? It wasn't the opening group phase that made the WC boring, it was the super eight stage. Like others World cups it should progress to a knock-out phase to cut down on the number of meaningless dead-rubber fixtures. You could to reduce the chance of an upset double the number of group stage matches and have every time play each other twice. That with the knock-out would produce 54 matches, but would still miss the trill of the group stages that we see in football and rugby.
 

Matt79

Global Moderator
I don't care about upsets - if a test team isn't good enough to beat an associate, then stiff, they don't deserve to progress. It's the overall length of the tournament, and the number of mismatches that are a problem. Mismatches vs upsets might sound like splitting hairs, but what I'm saying is that any changes brought in should aim at reducing the number of mismatches, rather than attempting to ensure that an upset in a (on the face of it) mismatch doesn't knock out a major team.

Comparisons or efforts to replicate the structure of the soccer, or even the rugby, world cup are not going to work as there simply aren't enough countries of a competitive standard - plus cricket is a game where its harder than say soccer for a weaker team to produce a close contest against a stronger opponent.
 

Matt79

Global Moderator
Yeah, it killed the carnival feel a bit, unlike say the soccer world cup, where you finish watching one match, catch a score update from another match in progress, and then settle back down to watch yet another match that evening.
 

albo97056

U19 Cricketer
Im all for 3 groups of 6 with the top 2 +2 3rd placers going in to quarters.. no more ridiculous super 8s
 

Mister Wright

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
I thought the pool games were fair enough in the last world cup, but the super 8 did seem to drag on a bit. Whether you turn the super 8 into a quarterfinal stage with lucky losers, it could make the tournament a little more interesting. Sort of like the Rugby League/AFL grand final structure. Not sure it would work, but could be interesting.
 

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