Is the ICC trying to kill off its own tournament?

The Netherlands cricket team celebrate after defeating England in their Twenty20 World Cup cricket match at Lord’s cricket ground in London, Friday, June, 5, 2009. AP Photo/Alastair Grant

According to a CricInfo report by Tariq Engineer on February 20, just 4,000 tickets to this year’s World Cup final at Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium will be made available to the average local cricket fan. Guess who made that announcement?

Why, it’s tournament director Ratnakar Shetty, the same guy who confirmed that the entire format of the event was designed to assist hosts India in progressing as far as possible.

Should we just give up now and go home, perhaps? Is the ICC simply trying to kill off its own tournament?

To paraphrase British cricket humourist Andy Zaltman, it sounds like some people would like the World Cup reduced even further, to just four teams – India, India A, India under-21 and the Ranji Trophy champions.

Deliriously exciting for Indians no doubt, hardly engrossing for anyone else.

The venue itself will hold just 33,000 people – 8,500 of them ICC administrators and related persons, and 20,000 to other cricketing big-wigs.

Is that good enough for a showcase match like this on April 2? No, it isn’t.

Less than a week into this tenth edition of the ICC World Cup, it already feels like fans need to take a bold stand for its future. It’s about time someone did so – and demonstrated that cricket nuts do really care that a World Cup deserves an appropriately grand presentation, particularly on the day/night of the final.

FIFA has a minimum capacity of 60,000-plus for the football World Cup final. Nothing less should suffice. Perhaps the ICC should, too – or at least force it to be played in the largest place in each host country. In this case, given Kolkata hosted previously, why not somewhere bigger than Wankhede at least?

I understand the stadiums are of differing size, but surely a 50,000 minimum should be enforced?

As Sharda Urga pointed out on February 21 on CricInfo – no fewer than six other grounds have larger capacities than Wankhede. Ahmedabad, anyone? Chennai? Delhi?

I’ll give the ICC marks for at least managing to organise a World Cup every four years, as they should be.

Their rugby league equivalent haven’t been able to make up their minds for the past 20 years on that score, but as can be seen from the statistics below, the ICC still lags behind in matching its apparent goal of seeing cricket strut the world stage alongside football with how the sport is perceived by the paying public.

Finals of big tournaments are meant to be just that – big. Perhaps not too big on the hip-pocket hit, although that’s often the case as well.

Manchester United coach Sir Alex Ferguson described the general admission tickets for this year’s UEFA Champions League decider at Wembley Stadium as “a killer corporate deal” but nothing more.

The price? $240. Minimum. Insane.

“It’s unbelievable and disappointing,” Sir Alex was quoted as saying on the SBS World Game website on February 20.

So are the actions of the ICC in organising this cricket World Cup. The tickets for the April 2 decider in Mumbai will also be, as is the case with the Champions League, the most expensive ever.

The minimum price is 10,000 rupees – over $220 in Australian currency. Ouch.

Then there’s the online ticketing system crash after it couldn’t handle demand on Monday.

This is India, people – a supposed nation of one billion cricket fanatics. Naturally, many would like a ticket to a World Cup match, even if they will burn a hole in the wallet.

And, surprise surprise, Urga noted that in India, “ticket sales are heavily dependent on the host team’s presence in any match.”

Maybe it’s time for Stumpy the elephant mascot of the 2011 World Cup to have a momentary brain snap and turn into Stampy (the trunk-tastic pet formerly belonging to Bartholomew J Simpson) and inflict a few kicks on tournament officials.

According to the ICC’s official event website, Stumpy is age 10, “young, enthusiastic and determined” and “dreams of playing in the World Cup…one day”. He’s just about everything the ICC isn’t at the moment – except perhaps determined. Determined to seemingly ruin the biggest tournament cricket currently has in existence.

The way things are going – very silly very quickly – poor Stumpy won’t get the chance to represent Elephant-land in the World Cup at all, let alone a “one day” one.

Elephant-land would be classed as a minnow nation. Tragic.

ICC WORLD CUP FINALS BY VENUE ATTENDANCE (1975-2007)
1975 – Lord’s, London (26,000)
1979 – Lord’s, London (25,000)
1983 – Lord’s, London (24,609)
1987 – Eden Gardens, Kolkata (70,000)
1992 – Melbourne Cricket Ground (87,182)
1996 – Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore (62,645)
1999 – Lord’s, London (27,835)
2003 – Wanderers’ Stadium, Johannesburg (31,779)
2007 – Kensington Oval, Barbados (28,108)
2011 – Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai (33,000)

FIFA WORLD CUP FINALS BY VENUE ATTENDANCE
1978 – Estadio Monumental, Buenos Aires (71,483)
1982 – Santiago Bernabeu, Madrid (90,000)
1986 – Estadio Azteca, Mexico City (114,600)
1990 – Stadio Olimpico, Rome (73,603)
1994 – Rose Bowl, Los Angeles (94,194)
1998 – Stade de France, Paris (75,000)
2002 – Yokohama International Stadium (69,029)
2006 – Olympiastadion, Berlin (69,000)
2010 – Soccer City Stadium, Johannesburg (84,490)

IRB WORLD CUP FINALS BY VENUE ATTENDANCE
1991 – Twickenham Stadium, London (75,000)
1995 – Ellis Park Stadium, Johannesburg (65,000)
1999 – Millennium Stadium, Cardiff (74,500)
2003 – Stadium Australia, Sydney (82,957)
2007 – Stade de France, Paris (80,430)

RUGBY LEAGUE WORLD CUP FINALS BY VENUE ATTENDANCE
1977 – Sydney Cricket Ground (24,457)
1988 – Eden Park, Auckland (47,363)
1992 – Wembley Stadium, London (73,631)
1995 – Wembley Stadium, London (66,540)
2000 – Old Trafford, Manchester (44,329)
2008 – Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane (50,599)