It was a three quarter CWC 2007 final

CRICKET: It's a beautiful game....... That was the theme song for Cricket World Cup 2007 in the Caribbean.

But the prestigious and long awaited final between the reigning champions Australia and former champions Sri Lanka was certainly not a beautiful game. A damp squib. That's how best the final could be described.

Instead of calling it a final, it would be good if the record books write it in as a three-quarter final. This is because quarter of the 50 overs was cut off. The usually sun-bathed Caribbean saw the rain clouds break in the final and what it did to the game was sad.

The sun was shining brightly till about half an hour before the scheduled starting time after Ricky Ponting had beaten Mahela Jayawardene to the toss. From that moment what unfolded was a mockery.

The World Cup rules had it in black and white that there is a reserve day, if the game cannot be played on the stipulated day. Then the question everyone was asking was: 'Why was not the reserve day used?'

The best men to answer that question would be the ICC shieks in Dubai - and the on field umpires Steve Bucknor and Aleem Dar and match referee Jeff Crowe.

When the final was reduced by 12 overs from the original 50, it took away the very meaning of a 50 over final. When it was announced that it was going to be a 38 over final, fans on the ground and those watching it on television and listening to the radio would certainly have expressed their dissatisfaction.

Reducing 12 overs is akin to cutting a limb off a human. From that point onwards one cannot function like under normal circumstances.

Then when the final three overs were played in pitched darkness, it was the height of cricket madness enacted by the International Cricket Council that has been elected to run the game.

Reducing 12 overs from the original 50 is cutting off a large slice of overs and it does not make sense in playing out the remaining 38 overs.

It can be argued that it is the same for both teams. But that is besides the point. The final being the ultimate in the limited over style of cricket, deserved respect. One must not savage it. But it happened and it was a sad day for the game and an uneraseable black mark on the International Cricket Council.

Then when the match officials blundered as admitted by Jeff Crowe the former New Zealand Captain and match referee at the post match briefing, it was a comedy and that script would have been grabbed by film producers of comedies.

When the final was reduced to 38 overs, it did not allow the bowlers to bowl the quotas allowed like in a 50 over game. When this is done it takes away the striking force of the bowlers. Some bowlers are allowed 8, while some others are allowed seven. Then also the power plays are reduced and the final then becomes just a bowl out or a bat out, which is a sad indictment on the wonderful game that is called cricket.

The cricket fans would have laughed their sides out when the final three overs were played out in total darkness with Sri Lanka agreeing to bat and the Australians agreeing not to unleash their fastmen on the batsmen.

Now where does a thing like this happen, other than when cricket is played in the asylum.

One had to be at the scene of action to see and believe that this mockery was being perpetrated on the game.

The full house that packed the Kensignton Oval in Bridgetown, Barbados showed their displeasure when they gave ICC Chief Executive Malcom Speed, West Indies Cricket Board President Ken Gordon and CWC Chief Executive Chris Dehring a thunderous boo when master of ceremonies of the final presentation Tony Crozier mentioned their names and called them on to the podium.

That nailed and buried the coffin of a final that was the worst worked out since the inception of this tournament in 1975.

When the ICC sits back and takes stock, they will realise the shame that they brought on the game, especially the final.

When will they ever learn.

(More tomorrow)