One major reason for the debacle of the Super Series, other than faulty selection, that everyone seems to be overlooking is the poor timing. To be fair, in such a packed international calendar, it is extremely difficult to find a time when all countries are free. But honestly, having this Super Series at a time when several of the World players were coming straight out from the cold, was a big blow.
For the batsmen, this blow can be bigger - because they get only one chance. Clearly Lara, Kallis and Inzamam looked rusty and they had every right to be. Kallis would not have played competitive cricket in 6 months, Lara and Inzy in 5. Well, of course, this cannot be an excuse but it will definitely have played a part. Clearly, the ICC did not do this deliberately for the series was scheduled about a year in advance. But it turned out to be disastrous.
For the bowlers too, it was a problem. Particularly in the ODIs. Andrew Flintoff came back to his best only towards the end of the exercise.
Already, Malcolm Speed has indicated that the ICC would not want to hold the event again anytime soon. The farce that this edition was - this is an extremely natural knee-jerk reaction. But most people, it seems are preferring to hide behind that very safe formula 'It is not the same as playing for your country'.
What is sad is that the ICC is likely to use it to cover its failure in getting the timing right and resultantly destroy a concept that potentially was and still is a great one. My suggestion would be the following: hold the event immediately after the ICC Trophy. All the teams are in one place at that time - and the players will not be rusty. Maybe just 2 back-to-back ODIs and a 5-day test - add another week at the end of the event - and it could work. Or maybe even scrap the ICC Trophy if required !!
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2 comments:
i dont agree with your suggestion that this is a good idea.this so called 'super series' is a big disappointment.kudos to ICC for recognising the feelings of fans .hopefully it wont happen again.this,a misnomer of a tournament.
Scrap the ICC Champions Trophy for the sake of meaningless so-called Super Series? No way! I love the ICC Champions Trophy, it's the one one-day tournament Australia don't win, and it's always produced exciting results once we've gone passed the initial stages of round robin matches involving the minnows, which too aren't that bad as often projected.
Post Scriptum: In all honestly, I wouldn't have bothered less for what the result of the super series was regardless of a)who was selected b)when it was played c)whatever whatever whatever ... couldn't care less!
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