There was certainly plenty of criticism of the 2007 format, including the length of a tournament that spanned seven weeks plus the build up. Obviously the ICC wanted to expand the participation to include Associate countries for all the right reasons, but their development strategy had a sting in the tail when India and Pakistan were eliminated too early and it brought heavy commercial consequences for everyone. Five Associate countries participated, much to the chagrin of some leading personalities who saw these games as unnecessary and demeaning until Ireland upset the form book. Bangladesh followed suit and suddenly the fault was the non performing test nations and it was hats off to the minnows!
In truth, Ireland and Bangladesh gave the tournament some zip and widespread interest because overall the cricket was fairly mundane and predictable, with Australia barely challenged in any game. This means that the ICC legislators will look hard at the format for the next tournament in India , Pakistan , Sri Lanka and Bangladesh , and appear certain to reduce the number of teams participating to appease the bigger nations and limit the commercial risk of losing them early in the competition. It seems likely that 12 teams will participate and if the 'round robin' format is continued, two sections of six teams would produce five matches for each team in the first two weeks, and two semi-finalists. The semi-finals could be played in the third week with the final on the last day making it a much better focused three week competition. After all, if the top players can't play five days cricket in 14 days there is something seriously wrong with their fitness, and if the best players can't play seven days cricket in 21 days, then they don't deserve to be in the final!
