English media: Indian market behind next Cricket World Cup’s cynical cash grab

[sage]

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/cricket/2026/07/17/next-cricket-world-cup-cynical-ploy-make-money-for-india/

 

Format of next year’s ODI tournament has been changed to ensure biggest countries play more in latest insult to Associate nations

 

While the world’s attention is on the football World Cup, the International Cricket Council (ICC) has changed the format of its next one.

Less than 15 months out from the 2027 ODI World Cup, the tournament has been shrunk from 14 countries to 12: locking out emerging nations while ensuring that the biggest countries play even more matches.

Officially, the 2027 World Cup – which will be co-hosted by South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia, and begins on October 4 – will still comprise 14 teams. In reality, this is now a 12-team competition masquerading as 14.

In World Cups in football and other sports, all countries enter the tournament at the same stage in the first round. Not in the next Cricket World Cup.

Even Gianni Infantino would not have the audacity to claim that play-offs tacked on to the front of the World Cup are part of the main competition. Yet that is what the ICC is doing.

Rather than admitting that the World Cup has contracted from 14 countries to 12, the ICC will bring together the 12th to 14th sides to play a “Super Series”, with one side advancing to the main draw. Twelve teams will then play in two groups of six. The top three from each group, plus the best fourth-placed side, progress to a seven-team Super Seven stage before the semi-finals.

The changes to the structure, the ICC proclaims, will lead to “greater context, competitiveness and consequence during the event”. This explanation misses a more pertinent c: commercialisation. The new format is really a cynical manoeuvre to maximise the competition’s financial value.

 

 Travis Head smashed 137 against India to help Australia win the last ODI World Cup final, in Ahmedabad three years ago  Credit: Amit Dave/Reuters

Under the previous proposed format, nations could play a maximum of 11 games if they reached the final. Under this format, the biggest nations can play up to 13 games: a way to extract more value from the Indian market.

The convoluted Super Seven stage looks suspiciously like a format reverse-engineered with one aim in mind: a second India-Pakistan clash. The lack of India-Pakistan bilateral matches has made games between the two in tournaments even more valuable: the two have been paired against each other in the group stages for 12 consecutive men’s global events.

Now, just as the Asia Cup does, the World Cup format could allow India and Pakistan to meet in two separate group stages, with the possibility – at least if Pakistan’s form improves – of a third meeting in the knockout stages.

 

The extra games for India and the other biggest nations have come at the expense of emerging teams. Under the old proposed format, the 13th and 14th sides were guaranteed six games each. Now, they will play a derisory two, and not even be in the main draw.

Associate nations, who have spent years slogging through the elaborate qualification process, have a right to feel insulted. In World Cricket League 2, Scotland and other leading Associate nations play 36 ODIs across four years to win the right to enter the main global qualification tournament to reach the World Cup. Even if they advance from those qualifiers, they will need to advance from the “Super Series” to reach to the World Cup proper.

Cricketers from emerging nations have come to dread ICC conferences as a source of bad news. Associate players see the ODI World Cup changes for what they are: a flagrant attempt to reduce the tournament from 14 to 12 sides by stealth.

“So you’re telling me, associate sides have to play in a three-year 50-over tournament to qualify for a qualifier to qualify for another tri-series qualifier to then qualify for a World Cup.” These were the despairing words of Max O’Dowd, who was part of the Netherlands team that toppled South Africa and Bangladesh in the 2023 World Cup.

 

 The Netherlands beat South Africa at the 2023 World Cup but face a more difficult task to reach the next edition Credit: Money Sharma/AFP via Getty Images

Lack of sporting integrity

The new format also adds to an ignominious tradition of a lack of sporting integrity in ICC events. The structure of the Super Series will give a huge advantage to the two sides playing in the last round of matches, who will know exactly what they need to do in the event of qualification being determined by net run rate.

The same inequities then run through the tournament proper. With a fourth-placed finisher in one group advancing to the Super Sevens, countries playing in the last round of matches will enjoy a significant advantage. In the Super Sevens, teams playing in the last game will benefit similarly.

Even Fifa, for all its greed, invariably plays the last round of group games simultaneously. This avoids what economists call information asymmetry: when one party knows more than the other, giving them an unfair advantage.

Simultaneous matches prevent, say, one team knowing the exact margin that they need to win by before their final match while their rivals do not. But such basic sporting fairness is anathema to the ICC, which has always prioritised squeezing extra broadcasting value over maximising competitive fairness for all participating nations.

The schedule for the 2027 ODI World Cup has not been announced. Yet history suggests one team is particularly likely to play in the final round of matches. In five of the last six men’s ICC events, India played the last game in the group phase; in this year’s T20 World Cup, they played the last game in both group stages.

Rather than eliminate dead rubbers, the new format could create more low-stakes matches. Under the previous envisaged structure, points earned in the opening group stage would be carried forward to the next round, giving these marquee matches greater consequence. Under the new structure, no points earned in the opening round are carried over. So should England play Australia in the opening stage and both teams qualify, the result will swiftly be redundant.

Against the backdrop of the inaugural 48-team football World Cup, there is a bleak irony in cricket contracting to a 12-team World Cup. For all its faults, Fifa’s greed has led to the game growing. Too often, the ICC’s greed prevents the game from expanding.

 

[The Realist]

Dying sport in an even deader format.

 

Difficult to see cricket being relevant long term when it's being played by so few countries.

[zen]

Adapt the IPL format  

 

8-10 teams. Round robin format. Qualifier 1, Eliminator. Qualifier 2. Final.

[jf1gp_1]

4 hours ago, sage said:

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/cricket/2026/07/17/next-cricket-world-cup-cynical-ploy-make-money-for-india/

 

Format of next year’s ODI tournament has been changed to ensure biggest countries play more in latest insult to Associate nations

 

While the world’s attention is on the football World Cup, the International Cricket Council (ICC) has changed the format of its next one.

Less than 15 months out from the 2027 ODI World Cup, the tournament has been shrunk from 14 countries to 12: locking out emerging nations while ensuring that the biggest countries play even more matches.

Officially, the 2027 World Cup – which will be co-hosted by South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia, and begins on October 4 – will still comprise 14 teams. In reality, this is now a 12-team competition masquerading as 14.

In World Cups in football and other sports, all countries enter the tournament at the same stage in the first round. Not in the next Cricket World Cup.

Even Gianni Infantino would not have the audacity to claim that play-offs tacked on to the front of the World Cup are part of the main competition. Yet that is what the ICC is doing.

Rather than admitting that the World Cup has contracted from 14 countries to 12, the ICC will bring together the 12th to 14th sides to play a “Super Series”, with one side advancing to the main draw. Twelve teams will then play in two groups of six. The top three from each group, plus the best fourth-placed side, progress to a seven-team Super Seven stage before the semi-finals.

The changes to the structure, the ICC proclaims, will lead to “greater context, competitiveness and consequence during the event”. This explanation misses a more pertinent c: commercialisation. The new format is really a cynical manoeuvre to maximise the competition’s financial value.

 

 Travis Head smashed 137 against India to help Australia win the last ODI World Cup final, in Ahmedabad three years ago  Credit: Amit Dave/Reuters

Under the previous proposed format, nations could play a maximum of 11 games if they reached the final. Under this format, the biggest nations can play up to 13 games: a way to extract more value from the Indian market.

The convoluted Super Seven stage looks suspiciously like a format reverse-engineered with one aim in mind: a second India-Pakistan clash. The lack of India-Pakistan bilateral matches has made games between the two in tournaments even more valuable: the two have been paired against each other in the group stages for 12 consecutive men’s global events.

Now, just as the Asia Cup does, the World Cup format could allow India and Pakistan to meet in two separate group stages, with the possibility – at least if Pakistan’s form improves – of a third meeting in the knockout stages.

 

The extra games for India and the other biggest nations have come at the expense of emerging teams. Under the old proposed format, the 13th and 14th sides were guaranteed six games each. Now, they will play a derisory two, and not even be in the main draw.

Associate nations, who have spent years slogging through the elaborate qualification process, have a right to feel insulted. In World Cricket League 2, Scotland and other leading Associate nations play 36 ODIs across four years to win the right to enter the main global qualification tournament to reach the World Cup. Even if they advance from those qualifiers, they will need to advance from the “Super Series” to reach to the World Cup proper.

Cricketers from emerging nations have come to dread ICC conferences as a source of bad news. Associate players see the ODI World Cup changes for what they are: a flagrant attempt to reduce the tournament from 14 to 12 sides by stealth.

“So you’re telling me, associate sides have to play in a three-year 50-over tournament to qualify for a qualifier to qualify for another tri-series qualifier to then qualify for a World Cup.” These were the despairing words of Max O’Dowd, who was part of the Netherlands team that toppled South Africa and Bangladesh in the 2023 World Cup.

 

 The Netherlands beat South Africa at the 2023 World Cup but face a more difficult task to reach the next edition Credit: Money Sharma/AFP via Getty Images

Lack of sporting integrity

The new format also adds to an ignominious tradition of a lack of sporting integrity in ICC events. The structure of the Super Series will give a huge advantage to the two sides playing in the last round of matches, who will know exactly what they need to do in the event of qualification being determined by net run rate.

The same inequities then run through the tournament proper. With a fourth-placed finisher in one group advancing to the Super Sevens, countries playing in the last round of matches will enjoy a significant advantage. In the Super Sevens, teams playing in the last game will benefit similarly.

Even Fifa, for all its greed, invariably plays the last round of group games simultaneously. This avoids what economists call information asymmetry: when one party knows more than the other, giving them an unfair advantage.

Simultaneous matches prevent, say, one team knowing the exact margin that they need to win by before their final match while their rivals do not. But such basic sporting fairness is anathema to the ICC, which has always prioritised squeezing extra broadcasting value over maximising competitive fairness for all participating nations.

The schedule for the 2027 ODI World Cup has not been announced. Yet history suggests one team is particularly likely to play in the final round of matches. In five of the last six men’s ICC events, India played the last game in the group phase; in this year’s T20 World Cup, they played the last game in both group stages.

Rather than eliminate dead rubbers, the new format could create more low-stakes matches. Under the previous envisaged structure, points earned in the opening group stage would be carried forward to the next round, giving these marquee matches greater consequence. Under the new structure, no points earned in the opening round are carried over. So should England play Australia in the opening stage and both teams qualify, the result will swiftly be redundant.

Against the backdrop of the inaugural 48-team football World Cup, there is a bleak irony in cricket contracting to a 12-team World Cup. For all its faults, Fifa’s greed has led to the game growing. Too often, the ICC’s greed prevents the game from expanding.

 

English talking about cash grab.

[nevada]

10 hours ago, zen said:

Adapt the IPL format  

 

8-10 teams. Round robin format. Qualifier 1, Eliminator. Qualifier 2. Final.

I am missing the IPL! All said and done, cricket is entertainment and IPL serves plenty of it.  Bilateral series in alien conditions and the lackluster displays there have killed spectator interest. 

[Sgattick10]

No point in allowing minnows to play in the ODI format. In T20s they can compete to some extent but in 50 overs it becomes boring one siders.