In spite of his great batting deeds, in spite of his 3 successive World Cup wins and in spite of his place in the pantheons of the 'All Time Greats' of Cricket; I have never really liked Ponting.
Well, almost all Indians have reasons not to like him. The caning suffered in the 2003 World Cup Final being just one of them !
Most of the times, I have scoffed at Ponting and his rantings. But not this time.
What he said is absolutely true.
Minnows have no place at the World Cup !
The ICC should seriously think in this direction and thankfully they already have if the reports are to be believed. But I am against having even 10 teams. There should be only 8 teams, just 8 and no more.
But isn't this injustice to the associate members ? This could sound so on face value, but it is not. There is a way out. This is how we go about it...
The Main Event should have only 8 teams as it was till 1987.
Each Team will play another team once and the Top 4 will qualify for the Semi-Finals.
The Final should be a best of 3 affair to test the endurance and the ability to bounce back.
Top 6 Teams qualify to play main event based on overall ODI rankings 12 months prior to the main event.
There should be a First round of qualifying tourney involving teams ranked 7 to 20 in the format that is being played now at this Cup.
Let this be held in different countries and the ICC should support the event. This tourney can also be called Plate Division World Cup or something like that.
Both the finalists will get to play the main event.
This will mean the minnows will get to play more matches between themselves and also get to play 2 - 3 teams from the Test playing group. The competition will certainly improve.
Fear of relegation can lead to an improvement in the Test Playing Nations Group too.
Imagine India, England, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, New Zealand, South Africa or even Australia being relegated to the qualifying tourney. That will hurt the egos and can inspire stiffer competition.
A Test playing nation missing out on main event is a possibility. When that happens, it will act as a wake up call to that team and an incentive to the one that pipped them.
What happened yesterday [20 February 2011] was just not Cricket.
It was massacre, slaughter, annihilation, decimation, humiliation and anything you like !
Let us not suffer more of those insufferably lopsided Sundays.
Who will watch them ? Just who will pay to watch Canada playing Kenya in India ?
S-Pun Doctor
I like the 8 teams proposal. Though I would prefer to see McIntyre system trialled in cricket like they do in Australia in NRL. I will need to calculate the no of games this will generate (and also some team may play each other more than once) but I reckon with top 6 teams in the fray, the games would be competitive and that should take care of the main problem current fortat has.
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