It's close to its death because the ICC, willfully or not, has made it undesirable to full members and associates for differing reasons. Not tinkering with the World Cup every other time and having contextual qualification leagues for all teams are a must to keep it going

Cricinfo@cricinfo.com · 3d ago

'The ODI? Fifty-five years and 5000 games old, and the most overlooked and unloved of cricket's five formats. Nobody even worries about the ODI dying like they do with Tests. Perhaps it is already dead' Osman Samiuddin writes: srkl.in/63321BC8cwS

"are there any bad @stephencollins.bsky.social cartoons?" No, of course not, I've been laughing at this one for three minutes

Hail Hydra... er, -gen. Hail Hydra-gen

Brendan@chemscrapes.bsky.social · 4d ago

As a service for the #chemsky Cthulhu community, please see optimised image below. If folks want a transparent version to slap on t-shirts, mugs, whatever, let me know an I'll put a download on my website.

Despite the changes to the World Cup format, no knock-on effects on the qualification pathway. Means the WCQ winner will qualify to the group stage, 2nd-4th will play the preliminary round Typically this tournament has a final, which will now be winner-takes-all! www.cricinfo.com/story/world-...

World Cup 2027 Qualifier set to be played from February 22 to March 23

The venue for the tournament is yet to be finalised

cricinfo.com

A lovely message for Scott Edwards from Bas de Leede ❤️ srkl.in/63328BC6M70

The man who sold the World (Cup)

thepig993@thepig993.bsky.social · last wk.

This kills it I think www.bbc.co.uk/sport/footba...

'AFC joins Uefa and Concacaf in opposing Fifa plan' Showing solidarity and literally refusing to play ball is something boards in cricket never manage to do. Instead, they are meekly (and cheaply) bought off as they waive through whatever last minute changes the ICC makes to World Cups etc.

Fifa World Cup: Uefa to boycott tournament if Gianni Infantino's investment plans go through

Uefa says "the World Cup is not for sale" after its 55 member associations vote to boycott future tournaments if Fifa and its president, Gianni Infantino, do not back down on their investment proposal...

bbc.co.uk

We need to take a moment to salute Gianni Infantino for being the first person in history to get 55 European countries to unanimously agree on anything.

Can bash UEFA for being greedy bastards themselves at times but fair play. FIFA have sold out and it's good to see a united front. Hope this is the end of Infantile but I won't hold my breath

The Guardian@theguardian.com · 2w ago

Uefa agrees to boycott Fifa competitions if World Cup sell-off plans proceed

'The Bahrain GP will take place 6000 km from Bahrain' Sepang is awesome though, glad to see it temporarily back on the calendar

Formula 1@f1tv.bsky.social · 2w ago

The 2026 Bahrain Grand Prix will be held at the iconic Sepang International Circuit! Set to take place later this year from 2-4 October #F1

How is this supposed to do anything to "grow the game"? CA obsessed with the rupee! www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricke...

England vs Australia: Ashes rivals should be open to playing a Test in India, says Todd Greenberg

England and Australia should be open to the idea of playing a Test match in India to help generate interest in the format, says the chief executive of Cricket Australia.

bbc.co.uk

*Men's Ashes continues to run in the timeframe it has done since 2005

The Cricketer@thecricketer.com · 3w ago

England and Australia's Men's Ashes series next summer will be crammed into just 45 days.

Yes I'm sure it's all about spite for the ECB and nothing to do with him literally saying at his retirement he was going to take a holiday and then go back to play for Durham...

Cricinfo@cricinfo.com · 3w ago

Ben Stokes' non-involvement in the Hundred is a potential distraction ahead of the rebooted season srkl.in/63326B7fF9m

Shit losers. Shit winners. Shit blokes. Somehow still FIFA's darlings. Get fucked. VIVA ESPANA

The TV direction is worse than the F1 guys. Maybe they are the F1 guys...

Rule that out you corrupt knobs. Viva Espana!

Wayne Rooney speaks for everyone.

Y'all didn't just turn off the TV and go clean up the kitchen for half an hour?

Anger can come later. The facts, from an associate point of view, are still miserable reading

Emerging Cricket@emergingcricket.bsky.social · 4w ago

🗞️ Changes to the formats of both men's World Cups will hurt associate representation 👇 @tomgrunshaw.bsky.social sums up the changes to the pathways emergingcricket.com/events/mens-...

This is going to end in tears. I can only hope they're Messi's...

Oh a preliminary round... A qualifier after the qualifier... *Loud booing* www.cricinfo.com/story/icc-ad...

ICC adds 'Super Series' and 'Super Seven' twist to 2027 ODI World Cup

The new structure, revealed on Wednesday, was introduced to "enhance consequence"

cricinfo.com

I don't think anything in this article constitutes a good idea/outcome for anyone. Peak ICC

Global Cricket@somuchcricket.bsky.social · 4w ago

The rumours getting louder about the ICC deciding to cut down the number of teams in the men's ODI World Cup. Basically strategy is that tests are for the big 3, ODIs are for the full members, and the rest of the world can only ever aspire to play T20. For women, it's the same but smaller amounts.

The ICC have failed to promote or reform international cricket because they didn't realise that franchise leagues were their competitors. The value of the broadcasting rights is being reduced as a result of their incompetence.

Tristan Lavalette@trislavalette.bsky.social · 4w ago

There are discussions to cut back the 2027 ODI World Cup to 12 teams. The ICC announced in 2021 that the 2027 event would have 14 teams. There were discussions at the time of a 16-team World Cup after the 2019 and 2023 editions only had 10. www.cricketfj.com/p/reducing-t...

My other WTest take whilst I'm thinking about it is it's high time the ECB put on a domestic women's first class tournament, else we're going to keep getting battered by India and Australia. With 10 professional teams next year, I'd suggest 4 3-day games each, at the expense of some ODC games

If Lords wants to host more women's tests, they should have to drop a Men's test. No good reason for one venue to host 3/7 tests in a summer, nor one city hosting 4/7. Give Old Trafford the WTest next summer

Hypocaust@hypocaust.bsky.social · 4w ago

Glad we're all agreed that women get exclusive use of Lord's for Test cricket from now on (or at least the next 142 years).

The ECB blocking the MCC from doing something for the greater good was not on my bingo card I have to say...

Andrew Nixon@andrewnixon.bsky.social · last mo.

From this we could be justified in drawing the conclusion that the ECB is actively hostile to the growth of cricket elsewhere in Europe. www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricke...

The American people, press and political class continue to stand idly by...

Polling USA@usapolling.bsky.social · last mo.

Holy Christ he's sundowning so hard and it's not even the afternoon yet

“Gentlemen, this is democracy manifest! What is the charge? Receiving a bung? A succulent five million quid? Get your hand off my penis!”

Few thoughts here: Boundaries in a little bit not dramatically England generally produces more batting friendly wickets, certainly compared with the UAE but things have definitely got better over the last 3 years

Hypocaust@hypocaust.bsky.social · last mo.

That was the 7th successful chase of 150 or more at this World Cup. There had been just two successful chases of that magnitude at all nine previous editions combined. The average run-rate for the tournament (7.46 rpo) was by far the highest for any edition. #T20WorldCup

🏏 Australia far out best and England clearly 2nd. Normal service has resumed in Women's Cricket...