Birmingham: The huge success of the Champions Trophy may result in the tournament being held again. Though the International Cricket Council (ICC) had decided that this would be the last edition of the tournament and will be replaced by the Test Championship, chances are the Champions Trophy may not be scrapped.
The huge response from the fans and also broadcasters may result in this tournament, known as the Mini World Cup, remaining as a shorter version of the World Cup. Many feel that this tournament should not be sacrificed to promote Test cricket. The idea behind stopping this tournament was to have only one tournament for each of the formats like Twenty20, Test Cricket and 50 overs through the World Cup and not stage two 50-over tournaments.
Some feel that this tournament must be held even if it means reduction in number of bilateral tournaments. The matter is likely to come up for discussion during the ICC’s annual conference to be held from June 25 to June 29 in London.
The Test Championship which is to be held in June 2017 in England during three weeks with only four teams set to take part is unlikely to be a success. In fact, broadcasters fear that the success of this event will depend on which are the last four teams that may qualify to compete. If among the four teams there aren’t many sub-continental teams it can lead to a huge dip in their viewership which can indirectly hit their revenue.
There is also a likelihood of the Champions Trophy being made an even shorter tournament with the best six competing for the trophy within a span of less than two weeks.
Some of the leading newspapers here have asked how can ICC axe a tournament which is a resounding success as it was well organised, well contested with excellent response from the fans despite the rain. David Collier, the chief executive of the England and Wales Cricket Board, the hosts of the tournament, has addressed the final as one of the greatest sporting days worldwide in 2013.
Former Australia skipper Ricky Ponting who is here after announcing his retirement from all formats of the game does not want excess of 50 over matches and Twenty20 tournaments to be labelled as the reason behind the dip in turn out for Test matches. “If you are putting a 50 over match one day, then a Test match and a Twenty20 match the next week people are going to pick and choose which one they want to go to and which one they can afford to go. I think there is still a place for 50-over games.”
