The Best versus The Rest
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ICC should be wary of over-innovation
Wisden Comment by Andrew Miller
February 4, 2004
The International Cricket Council has given its backing to plans for a $1.3 million “Best versus The Rest” super series, a proposal which was first raised last year in response to Australia’s all-conquering performances. The plan is for a biennial series of one Test and three ODI games between the top-ranked team and an XI compiled from the remaining nine nations.
The idea was supported at a recent ICC board meeting, and has in-principle approval from all 10 Test-playing nations. The plans will be discussed in greater depth at the ICC’s next board meeting in New Zealand next month, where dates and venues are expected to be pencilled in. South Africa is the most likely country to host the inaugural event.
Such a series is certainly an attractive proposition for sponsors and fans alike, but there are two over-riding considerations to be taken on board. First and foremost, there is already a widespread concern about the amount of cricket being played. Australia, who on current form would be the top-ranked team for such an event, fly to Sri Lanka for five ODIs and three Tests next week, only days after the completion of one of their toughest domestic seasons in memory. Tim May, the chief executive of the Federation of International Cricketers’ Associations (FICA), has already raised the issue on the players’ behalfs.
Secondly, there is the continuing spectre of corruption at the top level of the game. Earlier this week, a confidential report from the ICC’s Anti Corruption Unit was leaked to a Pakistani newspaper, which suggested that their team had deliberately underperformed in two tournaments prior to the World Cup last year. And during England’s recent tour of Sri Lanka, there was the curious case of the cash in Marvan Atapattu’s hotel-room, which is still under investigation despite claims from the Sri Lankan board that nothing untoward had occurred.
A Best versus the Rest series would be particularly susceptible to the bookies, for the simple reason that the matches could not be given official international status – at least, not for Test cricket at any rate, where the precedent was set back in 1970, when England took on a Rest of the World side when their South Africa series was cancelled at short notice.
In truth, it proved to be a highly memorable summer and hugely popular, with the likes of Garry Sobers and Mike Procter in full flight, and a similar team toured Australia two years later, for a contest that Kerry O’Keeffe described as “as tough as an Ashes series”. But cricket has altered beyond recognition in the intervening three decades, and it is questionable whether such thrills and spills could be recreated in the modern age. Recent World XI ventures have been rather gimmicky events, while two years ago, when South Africa and India played an unofficial Test at Centurion in the wake of the Mike Denness affair, Shaun Pollock – who scored a century – admitted that the game had lacked its usual intensity.
The ICC, however, has already rejected all such concerns, and all ten countries have agreed in principle, so the only hope would be for nothing but the very best XI to be put forward for the series – much as the British Lions come together every four years in rugby.** For the record, Wisden’s dream team would be:
1 Michael Vaughan (Eng), 2 Jacques Kallis (SA), 3 Rahul Dravid (Ind), 4 Brian Lara (WI, capt), 5 Sachin Tendulkar (Ind), 6 VVS Laxman (Ind), 7 Mark Boucher (SA, wk), 8 Shaun Pollock (SA), 9 Shane Bond (NZ), 10 Muttiah Muralitharan (SL), 11 Shoaib Akhtar (Pak).**
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But there is one fatal flaw to this proposal. And that is that the dream series has already been played. India’s epic encounter with Australia this winter was the “best versus the best of the rest”, and it could hardly have produced a more compelling contest.*** 
The ICC was right to think out loud about livening up international cricket after complaints about the one-sidedness of so many contests. But they did so on the assumption that Australia were unbeatable. Let’s see how they fare in Sri Lanka under a new captain, before jumping to too many conclusions about the need to inject new life into the game.
http://usa.cricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/CRICKET_NEWS/2004/FEB/061050_WCI_04FEB2004.html
Andrew Miller is assistant editor of Wisden Cricinfo in London.
