Finally the World Cup is over!
May 3rd 2007 01:38
After 46 days of competition the Cricket World Cup finally concluded last Saturday with Australia claiming their fourth victory with a crushing win over Sri Lanka in the final.
Unfortunately for all Australia’s dominance, did anyone really care? The tournament was administrated so poorly by the ICC, that the whole cricket and sporting public was disenchanted with the sport’s showcase event well before the concluding stages.
Former Australian great Dean Jones labelled the performance by the Aussies- not challenged in any of the 11 matches- as the greatest team performance in this proud country’s sporting history. That may be true, but how many of us really stayed up into the wee hours to stay tuned?
A World Cup in the Caribbean was always going to be tough to capture the imagination of the Aussie sporting public, purely because the time zone is not compatible as places such as the Subcontinent, South Africa or England.
Add to the fact the footy codes are up and kicking, and the cricket was always going to be in the background.
But wait a second, we just won a third consecutive World Cup and absolutely wiped off every opponent in our path. We should be celebrating a truly great Australian team- clearly the best one-day outfit in cricket history.
Yet I still can’t get excited. Actually I’m glad the tournament is over. The World Cup was perhaps the worst run major sporting tournament in the world. Many believed things couldn’t get any worse after the 2003 event in South Africa, which was dogged by poor crowds, political interference and a dodgy schedule.
However the 2007 World Cup was as low as it gets. Firstly there were too many teams. Sixteen countries, including six minnows, is ridiculous. If you include Bangladesh and Zimbabwe as minnows, then half the draw featured dud teams.
I do agree that Cricket’s biggest event should include minnows to further develop the game worldwide but the way the event is currently structured is embarrassing. Bermuda, Canada, Scotland and the Netherlands were laughable and wouldn’t be able to beat a local grade side.
The tournament needs only twelve teams. Before the event, the minnows should play a mini-cup amongst themselves, with the finalists qualifying for the main draw. Ireland and Kenya were the two minnow countries who performed respectably and deserved their spot but none of the others did.
Another criticism is the length of the tournament. It went way past its use-by date. Seven weeks for sixteen teams competing was a joke. When you compare that with the Soccer World Cup which features 32 teams and is over in a calendar month, then you realise how stretched out the event was.
Finally when the important matches arrived come semi-final time, people had long switched off. Cutting down the teams would help reduce the length but there were too many meaningless matches in the early stages anyway.
The format has to be changed. Next World Cup, the ICC should wipe away the group stage and the super eights phase. It’s a waste of time and contains too many flaws. Each of the twelve teams should play each other once, with the top four sides qualifying for the semis.
This would help eliminate the possibilities of fancied teams such as India and Pakistan being knocked out early. With so few quality sides around, the tournament can ill-afford to lose these glamour teams just because they had an off day to a minnow side.
Well done to Bangladesh and Ireland for progressing to the super eights but it only created more one-sided matches once the group stages were complete.
When you think of a big sporting event, one would imagine the stadiums being jam-packed and full of great atmosphere. Surprise, surprise not as this tournament. With tickets being over-priced, the majority of the modest locals had no chance to be present.
In addition the locals, who were in attendance, stupidly were not allowed to play their musical instruments- an integral flavour to calypso cricket. Not surprisingly they became disenchanted with the event, as attendances dropped to embarrassing lows and the matches lacked atmosphere and appeared sterile.
The final straw for this farcical tournament came in what should have been cricket’s biggest stage- the World Cup Final. In a bizarre ending, the Sri Lankans accepted the bad light given to them and in a no-win situation conceded the game to Australia.
As the Aussies celebrated, the umpires (for reasons only known to them) refused to end the game and made the teams play the final three overs in virtual pitch darkness. The final stages of the tournament fittingly concluded this ludicrous World Cup.
Fittingly the crowd booed the final stages and again at the ICC officials at the presentation. The ICC has long maintained its hope of one day pushing into the big markets of the USA and Europe.
Well they should first review their strategies and concentrate their efforts in staging a successful World Cup after this dismal effort.
Let’s hope the 2011 event in the Sub-Continent is a marked improvement, as we don’t want another Aussie triumph once again overshadowed by the inadequacies of the ICC.
Unfortunately for all Australia’s dominance, did anyone really care? The tournament was administrated so poorly by the ICC, that the whole cricket and sporting public was disenchanted with the sport’s showcase event well before the concluding stages.
Former Australian great Dean Jones labelled the performance by the Aussies- not challenged in any of the 11 matches- as the greatest team performance in this proud country’s sporting history. That may be true, but how many of us really stayed up into the wee hours to stay tuned?
A World Cup in the Caribbean was always going to be tough to capture the imagination of the Aussie sporting public, purely because the time zone is not compatible as places such as the Subcontinent, South Africa or England.
Add to the fact the footy codes are up and kicking, and the cricket was always going to be in the background.
But wait a second, we just won a third consecutive World Cup and absolutely wiped off every opponent in our path. We should be celebrating a truly great Australian team- clearly the best one-day outfit in cricket history.
Yet I still can’t get excited. Actually I’m glad the tournament is over. The World Cup was perhaps the worst run major sporting tournament in the world. Many believed things couldn’t get any worse after the 2003 event in South Africa, which was dogged by poor crowds, political interference and a dodgy schedule.
(One big flop)
However the 2007 World Cup was as low as it gets. Firstly there were too many teams. Sixteen countries, including six minnows, is ridiculous. If you include Bangladesh and Zimbabwe as minnows, then half the draw featured dud teams.
I do agree that Cricket’s biggest event should include minnows to further develop the game worldwide but the way the event is currently structured is embarrassing. Bermuda, Canada, Scotland and the Netherlands were laughable and wouldn’t be able to beat a local grade side.
The tournament needs only twelve teams. Before the event, the minnows should play a mini-cup amongst themselves, with the finalists qualifying for the main draw. Ireland and Kenya were the two minnow countries who performed respectably and deserved their spot but none of the others did.
Another criticism is the length of the tournament. It went way past its use-by date. Seven weeks for sixteen teams competing was a joke. When you compare that with the Soccer World Cup which features 32 teams and is over in a calendar month, then you realise how stretched out the event was.
Finally when the important matches arrived come semi-final time, people had long switched off. Cutting down the teams would help reduce the length but there were too many meaningless matches in the early stages anyway.
The format has to be changed. Next World Cup, the ICC should wipe away the group stage and the super eights phase. It’s a waste of time and contains too many flaws. Each of the twelve teams should play each other once, with the top four sides qualifying for the semis.
This would help eliminate the possibilities of fancied teams such as India and Pakistan being knocked out early. With so few quality sides around, the tournament can ill-afford to lose these glamour teams just because they had an off day to a minnow side.
Well done to Bangladesh and Ireland for progressing to the super eights but it only created more one-sided matches once the group stages were complete.
When you think of a big sporting event, one would imagine the stadiums being jam-packed and full of great atmosphere. Surprise, surprise not as this tournament. With tickets being over-priced, the majority of the modest locals had no chance to be present.
In addition the locals, who were in attendance, stupidly were not allowed to play their musical instruments- an integral flavour to calypso cricket. Not surprisingly they became disenchanted with the event, as attendances dropped to embarrassing lows and the matches lacked atmosphere and appeared sterile.
The final straw for this farcical tournament came in what should have been cricket’s biggest stage- the World Cup Final. In a bizarre ending, the Sri Lankans accepted the bad light given to them and in a no-win situation conceded the game to Australia.
As the Aussies celebrated, the umpires (for reasons only known to them) refused to end the game and made the teams play the final three overs in virtual pitch darkness. The final stages of the tournament fittingly concluded this ludicrous World Cup.
Fittingly the crowd booed the final stages and again at the ICC officials at the presentation. The ICC has long maintained its hope of one day pushing into the big markets of the USA and Europe.
Well they should first review their strategies and concentrate their efforts in staging a successful World Cup after this dismal effort.
Let’s hope the 2011 event in the Sub-Continent is a marked improvement, as we don’t want another Aussie triumph once again overshadowed by the inadequacies of the ICC.
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