ICC Chief Executive says 2021 Champions Trophy may be scrapped
What’s the story?
ICC Chief Executive, Dave Richardson, said that the ICC Champions Trophy 2021 may be scrapped in favour of a World T20 in the same year. India was due to host the event. Richardson explained the ICC’s reasoning and said the aim was to “differentiate our global events from each other so that they can be standalone and create maximum interest every time the event happens.”
Previously…
The ICC had said that they might decide to discontinue the Champions Trophy, but it was understood that would be effective from 2025 onwards. The ICC wanted to add a World T20, a big money-maker when compared to the Champions Trophy, instead. They also expressed the desire to have one ICC event per year, including a Test Championship, and the scheduling of world cricket is due to be discussed this week, in a set of ICC meetings.
The heart of the matter
The ICC is in a dilemma of sorts, given the rise of domestic T20 competitions and the fall in popularity of test cricket. Therefore, the ICC has vowed to revamp the international structure, in order to make it more coherent, more attractive to fans and a bigger income generator. As a result, they wanted to introduce a test and ODI cricket league, more World Cups (both 20 and 50 overs), and a major ICC event every year.
Dave Richardson said that the best way to do this is to get rid of the Champions Trophy, which is similar to the World Cup, and replace it with a World T20, that could be expanded to up to 20 teams in coming years, because of the event’s attractiveness to broadcasters. The 2021 World T20, if it were to happen, would be hosted in India.
What’s next?
The Champions Trophy is on its knees, and will probably not live to see a long and prosperous future. However, a raft of changes may not necessarily harm the cricket world, and it could possibly bring in a glorious second coming for international cricket.
Author’s take
While the Champions Trophy is an exciting tournament, conducive to upsets, it is a dinosaur in the current cricket world. More and longer international tournaments are the way to go for cricket, and the Champions Trophy is too short and snappy to bring in the type of revenue that longer tournaments can.
Furthermore, the world cricket schedule post-2019 is not clear yet, and till it becomes clear, it is difficult to understand what the ICC’s motive while cancelling the Champions Trophy is.