An opportunity to bury a dead horse - Blues Brothers at Cricinfo

Rather than pussyfooting and pretending it can restrict T20 – or, on the other hand, that it is doing enough to preserve the sanctity of Test cricket and the integrity of proper rather than truncated series – the ICC needs to get realistic. The international cricket calendar is simply too crowded and needs to be cleaned up.

It is clear as crystal that the game's stakeholders – fans and sponsors alike – cannot sustain two mega-sized ODI tournaments within two years of each other, not with T20 as the new elephant in the room. The ODI World Cup is obviously non-negotiable; therefore it must be the Champions' Trophy that heads for the guillotine.

It would be so much better if the ICC faced up to facts and was honest in its public statements. Does anybody quite expect the Champions' Trophy to be played in October 2009 – whether in Pakistan or anywhere else? In June 2009, the T20 world cup will be played in England. Already it is expected to crowd out endorsement money and television interest.

Does it do justice to the world's leading cricketers to expect them to play a second global tournament roughly three months later? What about the viewers? Won't a fatigue factor inevitably set in?

The champions trophy has just been postponed and proposals coming to bury this so called "dead horse" is just because Pakistan is not a strong and big country. All this talk about "terrorism" and "dangerous" country is just rubbish. There is regular terrorism in India and Sri Lanka. Why don't people take note of those?

what do u mean fatigue factor???mate us pakistanis do not have even one test match in 2008 and we've barely had any odis!every other team is playing cricket except pakistan!surely if theres alot of cricket its not a bad thing!its something we need!

The champions trophy was originally meant to be a week (or fortnight) long knock-off competition, acting as a fill in between world cups. Thanks to $$$ it burgeoned into a (un)glorified mini world cup, and the world cup expanded into an even larger and uglier behemoth.

I agree it should be scrapped in its current form, but if it were a quick 6 day knock-out event between the top 8 sides I'd still root for it. If they must keep biennial T20 World Cups then maybe the time has come to examine whether pointless bilateral or tri/quad ODI series deserve to be part of tours.

If tours consisted solely of test cricket I think most problems would be solved, it doesn't make sense to fly in Twenty20 specialists, ODI specialists and Test Specialist for every tour.

Once we start scrapping ODI tournaments we arrive closer to the point where we question whether cricket truly can allow three different versions of the sport to live in harmony with and flourish with each other.

There is already a fatigue factor for the spectators. I must say explosion in Twenty Twenty version in the domestic seen, IPL, English County etc, is partly to be blamed for this fatigue. But T20 is here to stay and the classical version must be preserved. It is the responsibility of the administrtaors both at country level and at internatonal level to keep drip feed the spectators with right balance of diet.

How flippantly you dismiss the Pakistani cricket fan! We are in danger here of losing another nation with a rich cricket culture. Already the genius of the 3 W's, of Viv Richards and Brian Lara of Roberts and Holding and Marshall has been lost to the mediocrity of Runako Morton, Darren Powell, and others. Are we now to stand by and watch as the rich traditions of Fazal, Hanif, Majid, Imran, Zaheer, Miandad, Akram Inzie et al, also get thrown by the wayside. If you are a true purist of cricket then instead of worrying about a 2 test or a 3 test series for India you should be worrying about Pakistan playing any test at all. The abandonement of the CT in Pakistan can be disappointing to Pakistani cricket fans but the abandonement of Pakistan cricket by the world cricket fraternity is not disappointing it is devastating.

Regarding the international calendar, many other sports play stage far more events than cricket does. Take tennis for example. During the claycourt season or hard court season, its impossible to even follow how many tournaments are going on, who is playing in what tournament and what points are at stake. The issue is not that there are too many tournaments, the issue is of trying to watch every game thats going on. That will obviously lead to viewer fatigue and its because of lack of planning on part of the viewer. Inspite of a so called packed calendar, a metropolitan city like Chennai hardly gets one ODI a year, when IPL demonstrated that people are hungry to go to stadiums several times over within the same year to watch attractive matches.

Hi, what a joke .... why shelve a tournament which will feature 8 top teams of the world?!?! just because India can play 3 test matches rather then 2 .... wow good justification mate :) .... I believe this is a good tournament being played every alternate year just to pit top teams against each other so why shelve it .... only because India is not being able to make money out of it ?!?! ...... although when I checked it last time ICC was a short form of International Cricket Council not Indian Cricket Council.

[Ashok responds ... Really? Wow]

After the C.T. postponement, where are we going now? What's next in store for cricket? A major rift between the Asian and white cricketing countries, is a crisis that cricket just can't afford.

What will happen if the 2011 world cup matches in Pakistan gets cancelled now, or if Pakistan boycott future tours to the non-Asian countries? Indeed, there is a bleak future ahead for cricket.

This is a decent tournament, and if properly organized and marketed, may turn out to be better than the ages long World Cup tournament itself. But, the fact that now that this will be organized on 2 successive years, 2009 and 2010 doesn't go down well with me. So, though I don't think there is a need to bury the tournament as a whole, atleast one of these editions should be scrapped.

And by the way, hameeda, Indian backing is the only reason why this entire issue has raised such a hue and cry; without this backing, the cancellation of CT'08 would have been a no brainer.

Hameedaa ji , India was the only country along with srilanka who were supporting for champions trophy to be not changed to an alternate venue from pakistan. So i beleive PCB board and you guys could show little bit gratitude.

Champion Trophy is the best tournament in world cricket. It is more exiting, more compact than ODI world cup with 8 best teams in the world competing and with fewer one-sided matches. T20 world cup is exiting and fun to watch but its ALWAYS a lottery who wins. Champion trophy should be renamed " WORLD MASTERS CUP" because that is what it is.

As for Pakistan they should try to "HOST" their home series with those countries who are unwilling to travel to Pakistan, in NEUTRAL COUNTRIES(eg:UAE) until situation in Pakistan become somewhat calm.

I Agree tht CT should be stopped. But they should have gone ahead with this as the this would have proved that our sub continent is as safe as any other wetsern countries. I really don understand the decision of countries pulling out from the tournament when a major tournament like asia cuop was held successfully. If at all the tournament had gone ahead then PCB could have proved many ppl wrong. PPL of pakistan need a change from the very old news wat they see everyday in their tabloids. Enough of these terrorism , enough of these politics.... lets make the world better by supporting such events.

Dont think Pakistani fans will see much international cricket played in the country for the next few years or at least till the country becomes a little more stable. As for the comments on India, I think cricket is the one area where the two countries have always cooperated and done very well. India, Pakistan and Srilanka alway support each other and thats what makes them a force in the ICC........its an arrangement tht works for all three countries very well.

Dear Hameeda, I fully agree Champion Trophy should not be scrapped. This view of scrapping CT is expressed by an individual called Ashok Malik. India had supported Champions Trophy to be held in Pakistan. Words in your column are very childish, there is no point in cursing India. India has infact acted as Supporter of Pakistan Cricket Board. We ashians should actualy unite, to fight out English tempers. Better reserve your remarks about an individual.
Hope you understand.

Wonder if the readers here have also read Osama's article today on CT postponment (cancelation it actually means). He has spoken the hearts out of any Pakisani cricket fan. Leave aside the (non) importance of CT, is anybody even bothered that PAkistan has NOT A SINGLE test match to play this year.And then they talk of over does of cricket and blah blah. PAkistan is certainly no minnow I am sure. They were number 2 in both ODI and Test ratings not a long while back. Wonder the cry and outburst would have beeb, had India or Australia failed to get a single test in 12 months time. this is high time that ICC decides to distribute equal number of test matches per year to all nations, so that records and rankings could be justified. We, Pakistanis as a nation are disgraced that we dont even have a sngle test match to play this year. This is some serious issue and needs to be adressed. Imagine the players getting rusty in the mean time, that will be a huge loss.

the ICC are fooling no one hear. the CT has been scraped & good riddance to it. its about time the ICC got real with its international schedule which is a total shambles. i mean "Champions" trophy you've got to "'aving a laugh". 8 of the 10 Test nations qualify 1 of those is in a stste of complete disarray, is ranked below an ineliegable nation(Ireland) in the rankings, could barely raise a side anyway & are only kept around for political reasons. so its 8 from 9, in reality an invitation event.
as for this causing a split in world cricket if it leads to the scrapping of the ICC & its replacement by a democratic, representative organisation that wants to take the sport forward into the 21st century then it might be no bad thing.

By postponing (cancelling) the Champions' Trophy, the spineless ICC has made all future tours to Pakistan by the "ELITE" teams almost impossible.
One needs to accept the fact that terror is an omnipresent virus in the subcontinent, not just in Pakistan.
The Indians have played in Pakistan regularly since 2004 and seem to enjoy it.
Maybe Pakistan should send in their own security teams to assess the security measures before touring Eng, SA or Aus. The English will never take a stand on their own. They just nod their heads in agreement to whatever Australia has to say. This is a huge loss for Pakistan cricket and I really wonder how the ICC is going to help matters here.
Pakistan cricket does not have strong determined leaders to rescue it...Thats the sad part.

We saw cricketers from Australia & SA playing at Jaipur immediately after bomb blasts.
Their argument of human safety therefore is hogwash.

The real reason Australia & SA cricketers do not want to participate is - the big money-spinner that BCCI is planning after the Champions Trophy.

Professional Australian / SA cricketers want to be fully fit & functional for the club tournament.

If they participate in the Champions' Trophy, they might get injured / simply be fatigued & lose out on money !
They have therefore arm-twisted their respective boards into getting the Champions' Trophy postponed.

It is all about money. ICC gets teh revenue for this tournament therefore it is they who loose bundels of money in this. Individual boards are not really interested. Friends its a pity that nobody is currently thinking about the game but only money.

dead horse is really besides the point. The tournament should have been played as proof that nothing can come in the way of people wanting to play or see cricket. Its shameful that London gets to host 2012 Olympics in spite of the bombs going off. Hypocrites - the whole lot of white criketing nations.

I am disappointed that WI went along with the white countries and abondoned the Asian brothers.This is devastating to Pakistan which has played hardly any International cricket of late.The CT is a worthwhile tournament as it proveds the funding for the second tier countries such as Kenya,Bermuda ,Ireland et al. Ironically the policy against Zimbabwe and now isolation of Pakistan will render them second tier in the not too distant future.West Indies are virtually in that realm so cricket is the loser,any way you spin it.

iam a big fan of cricket i love to see this pakistani on fire with the ball and the bat i used to love afridi but now i think he should be kicked out of cricket any way pakistan should have agreed to move the troophy to some other country so that at least we could have seen some pakistani action whats better ? to have any cricket or not have anything at all answer meeeeee? pcb answer me? {{{((((test cricket should be wiped out of cricket history))))}}} they sould only have odis and T20

Agree with the article completely. I think there are a few 1-day tournaments that can be scrapped actually. Excess 1 day cricket will only dilute the quality of cricket. It is obvious that T-20 is the future and test cricket will remain as the original version of the game...

It is hardly surprising that Pakistan have no Test matches this year, their behaviour in the Infamous Oval Test match cost the ECB a considerable amount of money. Why would anyone want to invite a team who simply refuse to play when things go against them? Pakistan are reaping what they sowed by their previous behaviour, they have done nothing to make friends on the international community over the last 50 odd years, so its hard to see why they would expect the other cricketing nations to risk real lives for the sake of Pakistani cricket.

The proponents of 20/20 cricket have got it wrong. It's just to short, fleeting and a lottery and requires some substance to provide the right balance. Perhaps it should be 25/25 half of the longer ODI version as it's finished before it's started.There is a predictability and sameness about 20/20 that smacks of commercialism and nothing more. I agree with MH that it is rubbish cricket.

2 Tournament that need to be postponed for at least 5 years is champions trophy and India- Pakistan test Series.

There was a time when even neutral like me wanted to watch India-Pakistan Cricket match. Now i almost feel they play cricket every month and I find it most boring.

And there is no need of champions trophy because it will make world cup less important.

I strongly disagree with this article.

Ashok take my advice seriously, follow your dream and be a gossip writer in one of the film magazines (you might succeed because of your style of writing) but please stay away from writing anything about Cricket because you have given most illogical reasons to abandon cricket.

You really are a waste of space when writing about Cricket.

[Ashok responds ... Dear Asim, thanks for the career counselling. Cyberspace being limitless I don't quite see how I'm "wasting" a limited resource. That aside, if you don't like my writing -- and you have every right not to -- don't read this blog. No skin off my back.]

Mixing the 2 stories of "white countries" not touring Pakistan, with the value of the Champion's Trophy itself is where people have made a complete mess of interpreting this (IMHO) quite intriguing article.

Perhaps if this argument were to take place while the C.T. was being held in say, New Zealand or some other "safe" venue, Ashok wouldn't have to be so frustrated at people's inability to seperate the issue addressed in the article with the current situation!

Either way, my own opinion is that the Champion's Trophy is quite a good idea. But it's played way too often. Every 4 years (right inbetween consecutive World Cups) would be perfect. Get rid of those ugly 7 ODI tours instead please!

Ashok, sorry to see a valid point made in the article is missed by the one-eyed view of some of the respondents. I completely agree with you. Too many ODIs and these meaning less tri/quad series' are enough to bore one watching cricket. There is no need for another stupid trophy, where every one is forced to participate (players and viewers alike).

Also, how many "Champion" contests can they come up with? Does ICC (Internation CC) and the rest can't come up with any other names than that start with "Champions"? I lost count of how many "Chamipons" tournaments are played over the past few years.

Anyhow, your point is well made. I completely agree with your statement "It would be so much better if the ICC faced up to facts and was honest in its public statements. Does anybody quite expect the Champions' Trophy to be played in October 2009 – whether in Pakistan or anywhere else? ".

Also as an advice, do not respond back to these back talkers. They don't see the point anyway.

Come on guys, read the article! It's not about whether cricket should or shouldn't be played in Pakistan at the moment (although to me it's clear that it shouldn't). It's about whether the Champions' Trophy should be played anywhere.

I'm all in favor of scrapping ODI cricket and just having test/20-20 tours. A tour of 3 tests and 7-9 20/20 matches would seem to make more sense and hold more interest in most cases.

Guys dont make the mistake of assuming that there is some Asian block or something, as some Pakistanis are portraying. There is just an Indian block, and that is good enough.
Pakistani fans are and will continue to criticize India, we don't share any cooperation to call a Asian block or something. The consensus on some issues with Pak here is a mere coincidence, BCCI has it's own stand that is not meant to favor any country intentionally. This consensus may or may not survive in the future.

What a load of rubbish, this blog is about 1year too late! When the 20/20 world cup happend last year, its all we talked about. Should ODIs go? should they stay? Are we playing too many ODIs?

Most of us already recognise that there are too many tourno's and that the cricketing calender is often bloated and we all know that the Champions trophy is a big waste of time when the world cup was only last year. Its the world cup with a different name!

But the worst part about this article apart from bringing up a subject which has already been discussed thouroughly an where you have made it out like you have come up with some wonderful idea which has never been discussed b4, is that this is devastating for pakistan! And not having te champions trophy will mean that india/Aus/Eng will be able to play more tests with each other.

Lets not forget that half the cricketing world has shunned pakistan and has set a precendent. This is what the issue is here, not the irrelevance of the tournoment!

The ICC is market-driven; it's about as capitalist a sporting body as there is at the moment. Therefore if a particular multi-nation tournament draws more revenue than the alternatives (bilateral series usually containing tests, ODI and one or more 20/20) then it will schedule the higher paying one at the expense of other ones. To do otherwise is to ignore the will of the marketplace which is assumed to distil the preferences (wants, needs?) of all the buyers in the marketplace. It's only when and if vacuous cash-cow tournaments like the Champions Trophy (and I'd add the Asia Cup in there, not because it's just for Asian countries mind you) start making less money than bilateral series focussed on test matches that the ICC will put them aside and schedule more of what the old-fashioned fan sees as 'proper' tours. Blame your fellow fans for preferring pointless 'world' championships and multi-nation 20/20, or blame ICC for believing that there's nothing more important than making money.

The main point of contention here is, the shelving of Champions Trophy and I m very sure that had the venue not been Pakistan, there would not have been so much hue and cry about the entire tournament . But everything boils down to had Pakistan not been the venue,the tourmanent would have have happened as scheduled, then how many of us would have really been able to see fully spirited fresh teams, involved in a gasping duel on the pitch. As a matter of fact, all we ardent cricket fans will really agree and some would like me would also rally for a cause that some wonderfully talented players in the cricket arena are already running on fumes. How much the players will really apperciate their respective boards, for thrusting them further with such a hectic tournament, involving them to be at their peak in terms of physical and mental endurance. The solution is clear, the number of ODI'S or Twenty League games have to go down. Its high time ICC realises it and does the needfull.

This may sound very dramatic or hilarious to most of you. Not just the champion’s trophy but I see very dim future for ODI cricket as in whole. It neither provides class of test match nor provides entertainment of T20. No other sport has these many classifications of the same game. Even for Olympics, T20 is best suited.
This move will also make sure that test cricket remains at the pinnacle. Dropping ODI would provide more time for 3 or 5 test matches series rather than just a 1 or 2 test series. Also it will give time to arrange champions’ league, IPL or ICL.
This comment by the way has nothing to do with Pakistan hosting the champion’s trophy. As an Indian I would like to support our neighbors.