More ICC madness

After the debacles of the World Cup, the ICC seem to be doing it again. Whatever the merit (or lack thereof) the idea of a Twenty20 World Championship may have, it seems bizarre that the form of the game that exists purely to finish quickly, without time for all the twists and turns of even what used to be the shorter form of the game, should be played in a competition involving full round robins in four groups of three, and then two groups of four, before the semi-finals. But that's not the worst of it.

When they lost to Zimbabwe, it looked like Australia might flop and rake something out of the Super Eights stage, just like India and Pakistan did at the World Cup. However, the Aussie's shock loss actually reduced some of the silliness by bringing some meaning into a game that would otherwise have had no meaning at all. That's right, if Australia and England had both beaten Zimbabwe, today's clash would have had absolutely no impact on the tournament.

As it is, Australia needed to win to have a chance of making it through to the next stage, and managed to win by enough to finish ahead of England on top of the group table based on net run rate. In the expected scenario, and in the match between Sri Lanka and New Zealand tomorrow, the only thing resting on the match is the top of the group position. But finishing top of the group affects nothing! As long as Australian and England finished as the top two, the groups that they move on to were already determined, for the sake of things like ticket sales.

Games without impact on the tournament can be great when they involve two teams that are both being knocked out, but when thinking about the final standings of Sri Lanka and New Zealand in this tournament, I doubt anyone will remember who finished top in their group. Surely it should actually affect their future in the tournament, giving them something to play for.