Congratulations Australia

The worst World Cup in possibly sporting history has finally ended. The problems began even before a ball was bowled (stadium issues) and ended in a farce. I'd like to see a Football World Cup Final played over 60 minutes due to bad weather, rules notwithstanding.

Despite a few sparse moments to remember, this is most definitely a couple months worth forgetting. Onto India et al for 2011!

More Cricket Analysis

A brief analysis of the biennial ICC Champions Trophy throws up some interesting results:

Year of Champions Trophy, # of Teams, # of Matches, # of Match-Days, # of 300+ scores, Host
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1998 - 9 teams, 8 matches (8 match days), 1 x 300+ scores, Bangladesh
2000 - 11 teams, 10 matches (10 match days), 0 x 300+ scores, Kenya
2002 - 12 teams, 15 matches (15 match days), 1 x 300+ scores, Sri Lanka
2004 - 12 teams, 15 matches (13 match days), 1 x 300+ scores, England
2006 - 10* teams, 15* matches (15* match days), 0* x 300+ scores, India

Unlike the World Cup, the Champions Trophy has been around for less than a decade and in that time, it has displayed much slower growth. The number of teams has remained almost the same while the number of matches and match-days have doubled. Rather shocking is the significant lack of 300+ scores. This is especially surprising given the fact that all but one of the tournaments were played in conditions generally considered conducive for batting. Even with the addition of the so-called minnows in 2000, there has been a mystifying scarcity of 300+ scores. Any ideas why?

Also, the asterisk'd data in 2006 is due to the fact that qualifying matches were held a week prior to the actual championship. Not knowing what to do with these matches, I decided not to include it in the final analysis. If I had, there would've been an increase of 2 teams, 6 matches, 6 match-days and 1 x 300+ score. This would've made the 2006 Champions Trophy bigger in terms of teams, matches and match-days than the first 2 WCs in 1975 and 1979. And in terms of match-days alone, it would've comfortably surpassed the 1983 WC and equaled the size of the 1987 WC. Perhaps therein lies the problem. We have another tournament that is nearly as long as the Football World Cup, and another thing that is nearly double the Champions Trophy in length!

Oh, and to go back to the previous post with the WC analysis, did anyone notice the sudden increase in match-days between 1983 and 1987? The number of teams and matches remained the same but the number of match-days more than doubled. This despite the fact the organizers decided not to play split-day matches of 60-overs per innings. And also, there were no spare days back then to account for rain delays. I suspect the increase was due to the growing demands of TV companies. It is well-known in India that the ODI victories by the Men in Blue during the 1980s ushered in the era of mass-commercialization that marked the 1990s, and its gross-commodification in the ongoing decade. Imagine what would've happened if India had won the 1987 WC?