Thaindian News

London, Aug 22 (IANS) Former Australian opener Matthew Hayden has called for scrapping the Champions Trophy as there already is a World Cup in the 50-over format.
Hayden, writing about his vision for cricket, questioned why the tournament should be held when there is already a World Cup in 50 overs format. The Champions Trophy is scheduled to take place in South Africa Sept 22-Oct 5.

“There’s too much cricket, too much of it is meaningless, and there are just too many different formats.” Hayden wrote. “Playing the World Twenty20 every other year is too much. And why have the Champions Trophy (a 50-over tournament) when you’ve already got a 50-over World Cup?

“There are strong lessons to be learned from the success achieved in other sports, such as the quadrennial cycle of football World Cup and UEFA European Championships.

Cricket should follow this with a similar cycle of T20 World Cup and ODI World Cup. To maximize coverage these should be played in odd-numbered years - football major competitions, and the Olympics, are in even-numbered years. The Champions Trophy should be scrapped. ”

Hayden also suggested a two-month window for the Indian Premier League to avoid overlapping of schedules.

“The main point of conflict between the IPL and the established game is in scheduling, particularly the subsequent clash of players’ contracts. This can be avoided in the future by creating a two-month window each year. I’d hold it in March and April - when other forms of the game take a back seat, no Tests, no World Cup cricket and so on.

“We need to do this. The IPL has the ability to generate international fan bases in the same way as achieved by the English football’s Premier League. I believe some IPL matches should go on the road each year and be played in other countries, to make it a global competition.

“The sooner the world of cricket embraces the IPL, the sooner everyone can find ways to benefit from its massive potential,” he said.