Unusual Suspects crash the party.

Official ranking systems are pilloried at the best of times in sports. But this week when 3 teams from the Top 4 were knocked out before the Champions Trophy semi-finals the ICC might actually have been thankful. I have said this before - ODI fatigue arises out of unequal contests and poor quality cricket. Pakistan, England, New Zealand each came to South Africa with poor recent records and missing top players but played thrilling cricket, perhaps unburdened by the favourites tag. Pakistan are certainly the most talented and balanced team in ODI cricket and under Younis Khans leadership they should win more regularly in future. England and New Zealand have shown they can spring surprises but need to add more X-factor players besides Kevin Pietersen and Shane Bond if they are to win high-pressure games. India, South Africa and SriLanka werent focused enough and the knock-out format punished them for this. Australia have once again shown their class in ICC tournaments. Instead of lamenting the loss of top players or complaining about their gruelling schedule they've lifted their ODI game since the Ashes loss and scrapped past the group stage.

Why One Day Cricket will survive … and Thrive - Part II

In my last post I briefly touched upon the money aspect that was the fuel for the explosion of ODI cricket in the nineties. India is easily the world’s largest cricket sponsorship market with no dearth of sponsors ready to put their name to a tournaments title sponsorship or signing up for on-air deals. For a large corporation planning a brand launch there is no comparable media buy to rival the reach that an India cricket match brings. With the price of television rights increasing with the advent of new channels, media owners who shell out big bucks must maximize to break even. Fifty over a side matches simply offer more scope to slot in commercial inventory than a Twenty20 game.

Eighty percent of the games revenues come from India and as long as the sponsors keep pouring in the money the ODI format won’t go away. Even the risk of an early Indian exit from a major tournament as happened in 2007 when ratings dropped 50% drop in ratings and losses amounted to Rs 150-160 crore after India crashed out of the WC 2007 does not deter advertisers. Unsurprisingly India has played the most ODIs in the post WC 2007 period – 72 vs. 58 for the next team. To their credit the ICC has tried to innovate by introducing the Powerplay changes and modifying the Champions Trophy format to sustain fan interest. Where it has faltered is in the basics like allowing month-long 7 match bilateral series that drag on forever, turning a blind eye to small grounds that deliver meaningless 350+ scores and venues like the Premadasa where results are highly toss or weather dependent.

The 50-over format has not been helped by the quality of cricket on offer either with one-sided results even among top 8 teams becoming commonplace: Eng-SA 4-0, India-Eng 5-0, SA-WI 5-0, Aus-WI 5-0 and now Aus-Eng 6-1. In the last decade while Australia have won 3 successive World Cups the supposed No.2 South Africa have repeatedly disappointed unable to overcome their chokers tag in every major tournament. What ODI cricket needs is more equal contests and for the 2nd tier teams like Pakistan, NZ, West Indies and England to challenge the Top 4 more seriously. The Twenty20 World Cup and IPL have had two great editions because both had surprise winners each year that captured the minds of spectators and viewers well into the final stages. A case in point was this year’s Twenty20 World Cup which despite the early exit of the pre-tournament favourites India and Australia retained pulling power due to the Pakistan teams’ fairytale run to the title.

This week’s Champions Trophy could yet change the minds of those calling time on the format if it produces some quality cricket and a worthy winner on the 5th of October at the Centurion. Quite ironic that a much-maligned tournament that few teams have embraced should now be the last roll of the dice that ODI cricket hedges its future on.

Why One Day Cricket will survive … and Thrive

It has become di riguer of late to lament the decline of ODI cricket and herald Twenty20 as the unstoppable David that will eventually slay the ODI Goliath. This week on the eve of the Champions Trophy the ICC has been struggling to convince all and sundry that ODI cricket is still in good shape. But the crickets governing body must also take the blame for creating the Frankensteinian monster that Twenty20 has become. Thanks to the ICC’s poor scheduling there will be 3 editions of the Twenty20 World Cup between the 2007 and 2011 ODI World Cups. Add to these 3 seasons of the blockbuster IPL and you can see why Twenty20 now has more top of mind recall for most cricket fans.

However not all voices speaking on ODI crickets future this week have been sounding the death knell, with outspoken Indian cricketer Harbhajan Singh one of those coming out in support of the format. This disparity in opinion between voices within and outside the subcontinent is mostly likely due to the variance in the way cricket sits within sporting calendars in different nations. Cricket is a year-round phenomenon in the sub continental countries while in countries like Australia it has a narrow home season sandwiched between seasons of other popular sports like Rugby League, AFL and Racing. For the rest of the year cricket is a forgotten sport when Australia plays overseas, unless the contest is the Ashes or the Border Gavaskar trophy against India. As a result for the South African or Australian cricket fan it makes little difference if the handful of home ODIs gets replaced by Twenty20 matches with the added incentive of seeing international players like Andrew Flintoff in action.

By contrast for the sub continental fan cricket is a staple he can never switch off from. It is this obsession that sees him following the national team’s fortunes and live scores irrespective of the time of day the game is played. This devotion is absolute and lifelong, regardless if he’s an expatriate living thousands of miles away from the action in his native land. The cricket boards themselves have been overzealous never missing an opportunity to schedule an ODI tournament in narrow breaks between exhausting series. This is largely due to the current BCCI regimes greed in trying to maximize as much as possible from ground and TV rights and the need to strengthen its vote banks by obliging its neighbours and Associate countries with hastily scheduled tours.

In summary, despite the valid questions about the necessity for 2 short versions of the game the volume of ODI cricket is unlikely to reduce in the near future as long as there is fan support and marketing dollars to sustain it. With the Indian team playing so well under Mahendra Singh Dhoni such an occurrence is unlikely anytime soon.

India within reach of ODI Ranking Summit

Two years on from their humiliating exit from the World Cup 2007, India find themselves sniffing at the ODI top spot having had a quick 24 hour stay just days ago. Both administrators and players must be commended for the impressive rebound in the teams performances since the Carribean debacle. India's ascent has been forged on three planks: a refreshing change in leadership (coach/captain), an infusion of youth and to the detriment of opposition teams the renewed vigour of Sachin Tendulkar. Where the current No.1 South Africa is a collection of dour robot-like performers, India are a team with colour, flair and youthful exuberance. Most importantly at a time when long eulogies are being written about the futue of the 50 over game, India alone pack the charisma and following to pull in crowds wherever they travel. Combining the experience of the Tendulkars, Sehwags and Harbhajans with the exuberance of Rohit Sharma, Yusuf Pathan and Suresh Raina this Indian team is a now a world-beater in all conditions. Previously a side dependent heavily on its batting to win matches, the side now has multiple match winners in its playing 11 as underlined by Harbhajan last night in the Compaq Cup final.

A look at the numbers since the last World Cup has India winning 44 out of 72 for a win/loss ratio of 1.91 while the current No.1 South Africa has won 29 out of 43 for a ratio of 2.41. Since Apr 2007, the 2 teams have met in only one tournament the Futures Cup in May 2007, with India winning 2 of 3 enroute to winning the title. If we compare performances against the dominant team of the decade Australia, South Africa hold a better 7/3 record while India have a more even 5/6 record against Australia. Only 10 of the 44 wins have come at home with a better W/L record overseas 1.92 than at home 1.66, and have also won 3/5 matches in tournament finals to improve upon their woeful record in the last stages.

Flattering as the stats are they do camouflage weaknesses like an inability to win finals without a significant Sachin contribution and deplorable ground fielding despite the abundance of youth. The decline of Australia raises hope that a subcontinental team may finally go one better after 3 being runners-up in the last 3 editions. Based on the evidence of of numbers and talent, India will certainly be the popular and experts pick to win when the World Cup comes home in 2011.

Australia win the World Cup (again) ...yawwwwwwwwwwnnn

Its 8.14am in Melbourne and Australia have triumphed for the third time in the World Cup. Aleem Dar and Steve Bucknor are insisting the game's not over since 3 overs remain. Another pig-headed decision by the ICC means that SriLanka will bat out the remaining overs in light that is best suited for an evening tea-party not a cricket final. Before this Australia decimated the SriLankan bowlers in the morning and then polished off their middle-order with some tight bowling. Most of the cricketing world would have been supporting a SriLankan but that man Adam Gilchrist again played like he had God batting for him. On one hand we marvel at how bloody good this Australian team but we also wonder where cricket heads from here. A dominant unbeatable team now holds all the major titles, has won in every cricket playing country and has an abundance of talent for another decade. I propose we do away with this farce of Australia playing in tournaments and beating everyone silly. Lets have a World Test and ODI Series over 4 years where all teams bar Australia play each other and the winner then plays Australia at the end of it. Atleast we'll see more even matches and we'll have to bear Australia crush opposition only once in 4 years. If there's any consolation McGrath and Warne are gone forever ...maybe India can win something when they go down to Australia later this year.

Why SriLanka Must Win The World Cup

Two years ago I was lucky enough to spend a fortnight in Colombo and Dambulla during a triangular in the Emerald Island closely observing the start of SriLankan crickets revival under their new coach Tom Moody. That tournament victory sparked an enthralling run by the SriLankans that has taken them back to the cricket World Cup final, one game away from usurping the old enemy Australia again. So just why is it more important for SriLanka to win than for Australia to complete crickets first World Cup treble. Some may accuse me of a sub continental and personal bias having long since adopted SriLanka as my honorary second nation. But biases aside ... Cricket desperately needs a new champion team, one that can rule for the next four years, winning on the field but also bringing in new audiences to the game. One suspects that Australia with their all conquering stint and tasteless sledging seemed to turn off both purists and casual spectators - many tired of their one sided conquests and boorish on-field behaviour. In any case Australia have won the World Cup prize twice and a loss in their third final will not diminish but only add to their legend just as Bjorn Borg's loss did in his last Wimbledon final. While South Asian teams have reached the final in the last 4 editions they have suffered embarassing losses to Australia the last two times. If Srilanka goes on to win on Saturday, slaying the Australian dragon it will go a long way in restoring some subcontinental pride. Finally SriLanka must win because that beautiful nation and its ever smiling inhabitants deserve a bit of providence and success on the cricketing field where they come to forget the strife that frequently engulfs their tiny nation. Not only will Jayawardene's Army be perfect ambassadors for the game, rest assured they will be far more well behaved than their predecessors as a certain Mr.Sharad Pawar will testify. Come April 28, I hope Percy that undoubted talismanic figure and enigmatic #1 fan of SriLankan cricket will be all celebratory smiles and holding aloft his SriLankan flag with pride.