 Mathew Hayden has made a suggestion that should warm the cockles of the IPL hearts.
Only recently drafted into the Cricket Australia board, Hayden has said that the
ICC should consider stopping the Champions Trophy altogether and instead,
create a two month long window for the Indian Premier League.
Hayden also said that playing the ICC World T20 tournament every second year
was expecting too much as well as if there was a World Cup of cricket that existed
then, there was no necessity to have the Champions Trophy, which could very
well be termed as a miniature version of the World Cup. This time around, the
Champions Trophy will have only eight teams playing 15 games to decide
the winners, but it has been a tournament that always remained under the scanner
of the critics ever since its inception.
He said, "Playing the World Twenty20 every other year is too much. And
why have the Champions Trophy when you've already got a 50-over World Cup?"
Supporting the IPL, he said that the tournament had brought the cricketing
world to a tipping point. He favoured the IPL because, according to him, it
had the capability to generate fan base, of the likes of the soccer tournaments
like the English Premier League, which is only good for the game.
Hayden also supported the cause for the MCC's concept of test championship
which will pit the top teams of the world against each other, whilst creating
a two-legged league. According to Hayden, there have been too many meaningless
test matches around, especially those involving sides like Zimbabwe and
Bangladesh. Bangladesh has yet to win a test series against a main opposition,
apart from a second-string West Indian side, in fact having barely managed to
draw a handful of games.
He said that while the major series like the Ashes and the India Pakistan
test series could be played over five test matches, the others could be divided
into two groups and play against each other, with points for wins, losses and
draws. He proposed that the top teams could then play in the semi-finals and
finals to decide the winner of the test championship winner.
Hayden's proposal, which he outlined in his column while writing for a newspaper
included having test matches in indoor stadiums, which will reduce the chances
of a match ending in a draw due to rain and bad weather.
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