World Cup format changed

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You can play 4 games of Soccer in a day, and still have all of them shown live around the world on TV without clashing with each other.

You can't with cricket.

Hence - longer format.
 
Although the ICC announced that the format for the 2011 World Cup has yet to be agreed, Cricinfo has learned that a proposal submitted by the hosts has been approved. It consists of two groups of seven with the top four in each group progressing to a knock-out stage.

In a letter dated December 18, 2007 and written on behalf of the four CEOs of the Asian countries, Shafqat Naghmi, the chief operations officer of the Pakistan Cricket Board, put forward three alternative proposals, of which their preferred option was the one approved by the ICC executive board on Tuesday.

The 14-team format will consist of two groups of seven teams - each group containing two of the four qualifying Associates - who would play each other. The top four sides would then progress into the quarter-finals.

It was estimated that the competition length could be reduced from 47 days to around 38 by using this format. The total number of games - 49 - would also meet the requirements of the television deal with ESPN-Star, which stipulates a minimum of 47 matches. There would also be more of what the letter referred to as "A-team games", defined as those involving the top eight Full Member countries.

The letter unanimously recommended this option to Campbell Jamieson, the ICC's general manager - commercial. It was subsequently presented to the ICC chief executives' committee in February where, so some Associates insist, it was treated as a done deal.

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This is another Turkey of a format.

During the first four weeks we are going to play 42 matches - 30 of which will involve a minnow - to narrow the tournament down to eight teams.

I wonder who those eight teams will be. With six matches for each side it's almost a given that the eight major test nations will be the eight teams that make up the quarter finals.

Having spent all this time to get to the quarters we will then have a situation where the 1st-placed team in one pool will play a knock-out match against the 4th-placed team from the other pool.

Where is the incentive to finish at the top of your group? It's just going to result in an exorbitant number of meaningless games.

It combines the worst of the 1996 tournament (quarter finals that are all but certain to make the pool stages meaningless) combined with the worst of the 2003 tournament (an extra minnow in each group, making the pool stage even longer).

The only way this format could be salvaged would be if the ICC ran the quarter-finals like the AFL top eight. Then there'd be a reason to finish first and second instead of third and fourth - giving some meaning to the pool stages and reward to the best teams.

It would also give the money-hungry ICC an extra three games.
 
it's a joke to have the 14 teams play, then to get down to 8 and be sudden death.

it's similar to the 96 world cup.

so all in all the big 8 should all make the quarters. and for them to qualify they only need to beat the 3 minnows in their group and could easily lose the other 3 before coming good at the quarter, semi final stage. :thumbsdown:
 

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What a shit proposal - quarter finals sudden death. The ICC continue to be an absolute joke.

After last year's world cup Malcolm Speed said the format was fine and they would not consider changing it for 2011, only to quietly do just that 12 months on, and come up with this shit system to meet the minimum quota of games under the tv deal.

Just pathetic. Should be sudden death from semi-finals only, whatever format they go with.
 
I actually like sudden death quarters. At least we won't have to put up with carryover points and boring meaningless matches in a Not so Super whatever. In reality it should have been 4x4's then quarters etc. It's a more interesting scenario.
 

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World Cup format changed

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