Your preferred WC format

[Ausage]

With alot of talk about how the format in this tournament makes it too long, with too many useless games I thought it might be a good idea for CW to have a bit of a brainstorm to work out the best way forward for the powers that be.

Assume that the format for the next WC hadn't been decided. The amount of teams, frequency of games, group/finals structure and qualification routes are all things that should be included.

To kick things off SS posted a format in the Ind-Neth thread that I thought was pretty good.

I'd like to see the top 16 teams invited, in four groups. They play each other once (each team has 3 games). Top two make it out (so eight total), and then QF, SF, and Finals.

Yes, still 8 teams make it out but having only three matches means a single upset could be huge, so every single game matters. Here you could lose a couple and it's not a big deal. That way, most of the top eight would make it but there is a realistic chance of upsets and minnows. And since it's only three games per group stage, the one sided stage is generally over fast.

Shorter tournament, more upsets, every game matters (even big vs minnow) and more teams have a chance to play in the biggest scene....

Discuss.

[flibbertyjibber]

I loved the 92 format to be honest, would hate it though if they persisted with 1 game a day nearly every day. You have to play 2 games a day and 3 at weekends or it drags too much. Trouble is TV has too big a say.

[Dhoni_fan]

I am in favour of reducing the number of teams to 10 which I think is going to be the case in 5 years time, but with that being said I think this tournament has been a real sucess so far.

There have not been many terrible matches, and there have been some thrillers, when you compare this WC to the last one I certainly think this is a much greater advert for the 50 over format of the game.

I do feel that the batting power play has played a massive part in that we don't have that quiet period in the middle overs where batsman just milk the bowlers and wait for the last 10 overs.

[Howe_zat]

I'm with SS. The treatment of the smaller nations has been completely unfair. Ireland's win deserves to mean something for them, not to get lost in a massive group. And excluding the smaller nations is nonesense. It's a world cup, I want to see the teams and players from around the world.

[Dhoni_fan]

I'm with SS. The treatment of the smaller nations has been completely unfair. Ireland's win deserves to mean something for them, not to get lost in a massive group. And excluding the smaller nations is nonesense. It's a world cup, I want to see the teams and players from around the world.

Yo be honest I am not sure about this, while I agree it was a huge win for Ireland and of course a result that should be celerbrated I think consistency is what needs to be rewarded when reaching the knock out stages.

If you are in the top 4 of your group then you have without doubt earned your place in the quarter finals of a world cup.

Just winning one match against a top test playing team while is a massive achievement, I don't believe in itself is good enough reason to progress.

[Top_Cat]

I know the players prefer round-robin (wusses) but I prefer something akin to SS's idea. I think I'm one of the few people who likes the Super 8's too.

[Lostman]

Would keep the same format in terms of groups and round robin group format, but would change the qualifying criteria.

Only top 3 from each group qualify. Top place from each group gets semi-final berth. Makes the group stage interesting and 1st place has a distinct reward.

[turnstyle]

Everybody does know that outside the W.C the Associates are only allowed to play 1 or 2 games against the full members a year if their lucky, right? It'd be like asking the local village under 12's to be consistent against a bunch of professional county cricketers.

This format would've worked if there was more than 1 game a day, but the peanut in charge of the ICC at the time these television contracts were drawn up only had dollars in his eyes and agreed to a world cup no shorter than 40 something days. So blame it on him if you don't like it.

[Ikki]

Yeah, 4 groups of 4, 1 match each.

[Prince EWS]

There are a number of formats I'd accept, so I'll just make a list of what I'm opposed to:

• Quarter finals
• Less than twelve teams
• Stage two round robin (eg. "Super Six", "Super Eight" etc)

So basically, as long as the tournament goes straight from the initial group stage to the semi-finals, and we don't cut out all the associate nations, then I'm happy with it. Which means I'd be happy with SS's suggestion in the opening post if one team from each group went through and we had semi-finals straight away.. and I'd be happy with the current format too if only two teams from each group went through and went straight to semi-finals. It opens it up to a range of different formats beyond that too.

I definitely think the initial stage should do something other than narrow down the following stage to the best eight teams.

[Jono]

Yeah I think it should go 'groups' --> 'semis' as well.

[Agent Nationaux]

I would have the same qualifying round with the 14 teams, but I would get rid of the quarters and have the top 2 teams from both groups qualifying into the semis. This would make the group stages more interesting, plus it would give the minnows the chance to knock out a test playing nation in the group stages.

[slugger]

I agree with SS idea also, but it seems the associates are being blamed fo a long format when in fact its just tv and money stretching it out. the current format also goes to someway in protecting a test nation from an early exit because of a one off upset. they didnt want a repeat of 07 which lead to India and Pakistans first round exit.

i think all games could be very competitve and close whether its a minnow or not involved if they just reduced the game down to 40 overs. and people would stop complaing about giant or lop sided matches.

[salman85]

Two Groups.
Top Two Teams From Each Group Advance To The Semis.

Sweet and Simple.
Doesn't give an easy ride to the big teams,and it makes all the big matches in the groups almost knockout games.I don't care if you're a minnow or a big team.You need to accumulate a certain number of points to go through.So if you're not able to go through despite causing the odd upset,then boo ****ing hoo.You're just not good enough.

I don't agree with anyone who says that the minnows are being hard done in the current format.You get the points,you go through,you don't get the points,you don't.That is it.Just because a minnonw causes an upset every now and then does not imply that they should be given an easy passage to the enxt round.Every team has to earn it,and so should they.

[Sanz]

The current WC format. Slightly unfair to Associate teams but I guess that's what the fans wanted, they didn't want these minnows to go to KO rounds.