Cricket World Cup 2011
After 42 matches – some absolute classics, some yawn inducing drabs and some upsets -the league stage is done and dusted with! It is now the business end of the tournament begins! Not many will remember how a short run cost India the match against England or how Shoaib Akhtar bowled Mahela Jayawardene with a scorcher of a delivery but it is these last 7 matches that will remain in the heads of the spectators when the tournament comes to an end!
The format, the length and the scheduling of the 2011 World Cup has been next to perfect compared to the disaster of the 2007 edition.
Format: England lost a couple of matches against the minnows but that they had enough opportunities to launch a fightback and survive longer in the tournament whereas India and Pakistan were knocked out after one bad defeat four years ago. The format presented the weaker nations more opportunities to prove their worth and Ireland, for one have grabbed all that they could have.
Length: The ICC got it all wrong in the Caribbean in 2007 where teams were forced to play another league stage in the form of the Super Eights after the initial group stages. The games were short on excitement and the crowds thought it became too monotonous. But in this edition, just when you thought the league stage was getting a bit too long and boring, it came to an end and now one cannot wait for the knockouts to begin.
Scheduling: The scheduling of the 2011 tournament could not have been better – just before the scorching summer began in India. Apart from rain abandoning Australia’s clash against Sri Lanka at Colombo, there have not been many run-ins with the weather. Also the dew factor under the lights hasn’t come into the picture this time thus encouraging captains to bat first without the fear that his spinners might have to bowl with a wet ball.
The fans and the organizers couldn’t have asked for a better start to the tournament with the top 8 teams qualifying for the tournament and when Shahid Afridi and Darren Sammy step out for the toss in Mirpur for the first quarterfinal, you can be assured that it is the beginning of the second phase of absolute entertainment provided by the 2011 World Cup!
Tags: Bangladesh, Cricket, Format, ICC, India, Knockouts, Length, Schedule, Sri Lanka, World Cup, World Cup 2011
