It's been a long time since I wrote anything (apart from orders, such is how busy I am with work these days). There is, however, a little Cricket Tournament going on in South Asia at the moment and I thought it might be interesting to see how it's all going.
In 2009, I officially retired from One Day Internationals. Before you rush to wikipedia to see how many ODI caps I actually earned, I will clarify: I mean as a spectator. It wasn't sour grapes because Australia had thrashed us 6-1 in the series that followed the victorious Ashes campaign that Summer. I made the decision to switch off before the Nat West Series (as did most of the England players in spirit, if not physically) so please don't accuse me otherwise. I just feared for my relationship with the world outside of Cricket if I allowed myself to get immersed in 7 more matches having spent the previous few months prioritising Cricket ahead of eating and breathing.
I stand by that decision today, whilst making exceptions like this for the major tournaments. But, I am more than a little perplexed by the format and duration of this World Cup which, it would appear, is not set to finish until Christmas 2013 with a seven match Final series between India and who ever else the TV companies want to see in the Final. So far we have miss- match after miss- match with Canada and Kenya looking as bad in the short form of the game as the Australian's do in Test Cricket: watching Canada dismissed for 67 is just as ugly as watching Doug Bollinger try to bowl with the red ball. This has been exacerbated by the likes of Bangladesh, West Indies and New Zealand being made to look no better than the associate members against the South African, Indian and (yes) Australian One Day powerhouses.
The footnote rolled out faster than one of Phil Tufnell's special cigarettes in an Aukland wash room is that the number of teams will reduce by two for the next world cup. This doesn't wash with me... You can have a far better tournament with the same number of teams by simply changing the format to 4 groups in the initial stages. Bloody obvious to everyone in the World other than Indian Television executives. Our own domestic Twenty 20 clearly illustrates the danger of introducing too many meaningless games to a tournament. Two years ago there were 3 home group games which were all sell- outs with the kind of atmospheres reserved for Internationals or Cup Finals. Last year, in a similar format to this world cup, there were 8 or 9 home games in the group phase that were played out in front of empty stadiums.
I've started to rant a bit there but what I am trying to illustrate is that there is too much One Day Cricket at the moment. Tournaments are too long and noboddy needs a 7 match series squeezed in between the Ashes and the World Cup. Looking at attendances at the World Cup so far, even the Indian public would seem to agree and it will ultimately be the billion or so of them who decide with their wallets.
Unfortunately, the only exception to the one sided affairs we've seen so far was England coming within a whisker of losing to Holland. Jimmy, Broady and the men picking the team have to shoulder most of the blame as we just managed to bat ourselves out of trouble in the end. Let's hope our two best quick bowlers come to the party against India on Sunday or we'll be suffering the same fate as our Caribbean, Kiwi or Bangladeshi friends. Bresnan bowled alright and Swan was good but we really need Yardy in there too offering some variety with his left- armers. The big question is who to leave out - Colly or Ravi. Both too similar and one has to make way. It's a difficult call that needs to be made if our bowling attack can threaten and subdue the big boys. Personally I'd give Colly the nod over Ravi and see how things go.
Whilst we can truly consider ourselves one of the Big 3 of Test Cricket and the rightful World Champions at Twenty 20, we go into this tournament with an outside chance at best and well behind that of India, Sri Lanka, Australia and South Africa. The Aussie's have won the last two under Television- botherer Ricky Ponting's captaincy. Let's hope the only hat trick he has in Trophy Room when its all over is his hat trick of Ashes defeats. I'm off to fabricate my own International career on Wikipedia... I don't know when I'll be back.
