SPEED
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (CMC):
WEST INDIES Cricket Board Chief Executive Roger Brath-waite and his counterparts from around the world have endorsed proposals for a Twenty20 World Championship and the ICC Champions Trophy.
The chief executives' co-mittee of the International Cricket Council has carded a Twenty20 World Champion-ships as early as September 2007 and revamped the Champions Trophy to feature just the top eight teams in the world from 2008 onwards.
These recommendations will now be taken to the ICC executive board's March meeting for it to make the final decision on whether or not to proceed with these formats.
WORKED HARD
"The ICC has worked hard to provide its members with flexibility in the scheduling of international cricket and these formats have been proposed with the aim of striking a good balance with the Future Tours Program of bilateral series between nations," ICC Chief Executive Malcolm Speed said in a news release.
"These proposals now endorsed by the CEC provide the Executive Board with the option of including Twenty20 cricket on the international cricket calendar and revamping the ICC Champions Trophy to provide a shorter, sharper event.
"Both formats could be played in a number of countries at different times of the year to fit in with the overall demands on international teams."
PACKAGE
Speed noted that the recommendations for a Twenty20 World Championships and the revised Champions Trophy form part of the overall package of ICC events to be included in the international cricketing calendar after the ICC Cricket World Cup 2007.
The package also includes the ICC World Cup in 2011 and 2015; the ICC Women's World Cup in 2009 and 2013; and the ICC Youth World Cup in 2008, 2010, 2012 and 2014.
The Champions Trophy started with 12 teams, but the ICC reduced it to a 10-team affair for this year's event to be contested in India, following criticism there was too much disparity between the top 10, and the 11th and 12th teams.
India recently informed the ICC that the competition was a complete waste of time, and after hosting this year's event, they would no longer be playing in it.
West Indies are the reigning ICC Champions Trophy winners.
