Meandering, passionless, and pointless

[King]

Ideally there should be a qualifier that will precede the ICC World cup with just the likes of Kenya, Zimbabwe, Canada, Netherlands, Ireland and the bottom 2 teams from the ICC ODI rankings play. Then pick two teams out of it and add that to the other 8 international teams. That is where the round robin should start. The world cup should officially begin with the qualifiers and that will also give the rest of the teams about 2 weeks to acclimatize. Then carry on with the round robin between 2 groups. Then the semis and the finals. At least there won't be huge mis-matches like it has been.

[King]

After the heart racing contests of today between WI vs. Netherlands and Zimbabwe vs. Kenya, the action continues : Mar. 1 - Sri Lanka vs. Kenya Mar. 2 - England vs. Ireland Mar. 3 - Netherlands vs. South Africa Mar. 3 - Pakistan vs. Canada Mar. 4 - New Zealand vs. Zimbabwe

That's about 4 days of mismatches in a row. WC's wearing out on me already.

[fineleg]

The only good thing is that India matches are on the weekend (mostly). So, we dont have to lose sleep during the weekdays.

[coffee_rules]

This format was designed to ensure India and Pakistan proceed on to the next stage. :haha:

Yeah, having Bangladesh play Ireland in a super-Six round is what the world is waiting to see. What a super success that format was for ICC financially!:giggle:

[pinkfreud]

Excellent post. Two points: First, genuine question: Does having a long and pointless tournament have economic consequences? Or do the powers that be milk more money from the WC hype rather than having a shorter more exciting tournament? Second, I don't think that cricket can spread in a meaningful way to different countries as long as the majority of matches are country A vs. country B. Maybe world cups notwithstanding, this nation based system must go. Cricket can't spread by building institutions funded top down but needs viewer interest built from bottom up.

Excellent points there. The logical way to answer question #1 is to talk about the revenues ICC would be getting in terms of rampant advertising and marketing. An extended tournament would always give you more profits rather than a shorter tournament which would be having the same ad slots and ad frequency on TV... but the big guns of the ICC don't have the brains to understand that an extended tournament does NOT mean increased viewership. If anything, this long drawn WC is making people seriously bored. Had the time span been shorter with at least 2 matches being played a day, TV viewership would have increased. The worst thing by far (for the ICC) is the ticket sales. At the end of the day, even if you are an admirer of someone like Ryan Ten Doeschate or enjoy close clashes like the one between Zimbabwe and Australia, the truth is that Indian spectators thrive on big thrills, big names, and big games. Even the CWG had more live spectators than this WC. For example, in yesterday's match, the Bangalore stadium came a bit alive only when Pollard came in to bat against The Netherlands. If the ICC had to deal with terrible viewership and poor sponsorship in the last WC where India and Pak crashed out early, then they should have learned from their mistakes and realized that people in the sub-continent are thirsty for an adrenalin-thumping tournament, not a long drawn one that benefits only the advertisers and fills the ICC's treasure chest. If minnow nations must be given a chance to play, then on those days, the ICC should ideally have 2 matches at least to ensure that people are not already fed up of the league games. The people on top may be money hungry but they are serious dimwits; they are now moaning about the fact that minnows shouldn't be allowed to play in the WC when it was they themselves who are to blame for such terrible viewership. You can't blame a country like Kenya or Canada for something that is clearly the ICC's fault. Your second point is good as well. By pitting the strong contenders against much weaker teams, the ICC has absolutely failed to give small minnow teams a chance to prove their mettle. Everyone under the sun would know that in a Sri Lanka vs. Kenya match, SL would win. That's mostly to do with the fact that Kenya Cricket is on a down-slide and needs to be strengthened from the ground up in the country itself. These group stages to me are just a formality to push the bigger teams ahead. Almost everyone knows who'll make it to the quarters, and because of that, people are already getting tired of these long, slow, and boring match days. If they wanted to stick to this method then they should have had the brains to include 2 matches everyday in their itinerary instead of one on some days. This WC sucks, and we aren't even in the QF stage yet.

[pinkfreud]

This is probably the most boring World Cup I have seen so far. To be fair' date=' I was not expecting it to be great considering the format and the form of teams like West Indies and New Zealand.[/quote'] i wouldn't make that statement after the way WI played yesterday :winky: West Indies may not have the set up that teams like South Africa, Oz, India, and Pak have, but they did make a huge comeback even if it was against The Netherlands. That alone will give them a lot of confidence... and when you have teams like India that have horrible bowling and fielding capabilities.. you just never know.

[FairCricket]

Minnows killing the WC ? so there are lot of minnow involed matches than big teams matches . we saw , SL vs PAK , and IND vs ENG , matches far more compatitive and interesting , i think real world cup bigins in q-finals , this is just a warmup , only , BAN/WEST will be fighting for one spot , other spots are fixed .

[b555]

new zealand and zimbabwe also fighting in the other group resta ll it has been p[retty much one sided matches leaving that spirited match by netherlands against netherland its doing no good for their cause to be there in the next wc

[Mariyam]

The commentators said that for the Netherlands vs West Indies game, there were only 2300 people present. That really puts us in a bad light, because according to the commentators, the games involving a minnow and non host country are better attended in SL. I think school children, college children , government employees etc should be free tickets to such games. I mean, its better than having to watch a WC game in an empty stadium.

[Zero_Unit]

Not all minnows are playing bad. Other day Ireland almost snatched a victory from Bangladesh. Even Zim looked good with the ball against Aus ...

[zen]

With the Irish triumping over the British, having QF is starting to make sense :P It would at least give the top 3 teams in each group a fair chance to make it to the KO stage

[King]

Pretty sure if there were qualifiers between all the minnows, Ireland would have waltz through. The win doesn't change anything unless the rest of the teams are able to emulate Ireland. Ireland has some useful players, the same can't be said about other lesser international sides. If it were just one or two teams in the WC then it is understandable but Canada, Netherlands, Kenya and Zimbabwe are just far too mediocre. I'm hoping that changes though.

[SachDan]

Bit long? yes Boring? hell no! Special thanks to Poms and Poyzz :--D

[SachDan]

of course Ireland

[King]

I'm bored of this world cup Can't push myself to watch any of these games barring once in a while when the test nation clashes with each other. Rest are just waste of time and just doesn't inspire. I'm so glad there's about 4 decent games coming up in the next 7 games. It doesn't even feel like the world cup is on at the moment, sounds more like some mindless one day series a few teams engage in so far.

[wanted_desi]

:hysterical: I am afraid your only one. World cup is still interesting

[yoda]

Agree with OP. I started by recording (DVR) all the games to watch them later (they start at 1 am local time here), then moved onto just recording 1 hour highlights, and now just check cricinfo scorecard and delete the highlights unless ofc two test teams are playing. :giggle:

[Andy]

Agreed. I am not even following unless its Test Playing nations playing on both side.

[The Outsider]

Only the ICC could have made a hash of the biggest cricket tournament being played in the heart of a cricket crazy region.

[ganeshran]

It was designed to be a safe format. Since the early exit of India could sound a death knell to the financial viability of the tournament. Hence it was structured in such a way that India is in the contention atleast till the knockout stages which forms a bulk.