ICC chief admits World Cup schedule too long

WORLD CUP: Cricket’s top official admits the current World Cup schedule is too long at 47 days and plans to trim it by up to 10 for the next one in 2011.

Malcolm Speed, chief executive of the International Cricket Council, was responding to criticism that the public lost interest in the format of having eight teams play in a round-robin format of one game a day in the second round.

The Super 8s schedule, played in four Caribbean nations, ran from March 28 until April 21 and that was after eight of the 16 starters had dropped out.

“We listen to criticism, and there has been a lot of it from people saying it’s been too long, so we’ll look to make it shorter,” Speed told BBC Radio Five.

“We’ll seek to reduce this 47-day World Cup by seven or 10 days, and hopefully we’ll get it down to somewhere between five and six weeks next time.”

The 2011 World Cup will be co-hosted by India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

Defending champion Australia faces Sri Lanka in Saturday’s final at Kensington Oval, Barbados.

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, Friday, AP

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