Finally, the International Cricket Council has accepted their mistake. Facing lots of criticism from all quarters regarding the long schedule of World Cup, ICC chief executive Malcolm Speed has accepted the criticism and is adamant that ICC will reduce the number of matches in 2011 World Cup. Not so long ago, Australia captain Ricky Ponting had also vowed concern about the length of the tournament.

Personally, I agree with Ponting’s remarks because what spectators want is the quality cricket between two sides rather than one-sided meaningless affairs. For example, last match of super eight between West Indies and England was meaningless as both sides were already out of the tournament. Carnival type atmosphere, which is usually the case in Caribbean stands, was also missing throughout the tournament because of high-ticket prices and stringent security measures.

Though, ICC reduced the prises in the later stages, but it was all too late. Let’s hope, ICC learns some lessons from this World Cup and implement it in 2011.

BBC