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The tourney is just in a tough spot and has a hard time attracting
players. Most don't want to go to India anyway. So when a convenient
excuse develops, the players use it. The organizers, who are having
trouble getting the players, then can use the same excuse. It's sort of a
chicken/egg, which came first... Still, it's not like a number of players
signed up and then pulled out. Most just never signed up to begin with.
There are two Asian tourneys (Bangkok and Beijing) the week before,
and they are having no problem getting quality players to come.
They both have considerably better fields than the Indian event had last
year when it was in Mumbai.
Regarding the cricket, those teams definitely have a choice. That is
why they chose to cancel the September matches in Pakistan due to
security concerns.
The Australians have made the decision to not play in Pakistan, but will
play in Bangalore, India in early October.
I'm guessing that if there were serious security concerns that the
Aussies would cancel in Bangalore too.
Champions Trophy cancellation results in conundrum for global cricket
schedule
Chloe Saltau
August 26, 2008
THE headaches have not disappeared along with the Champions
Trophy. Now, Australia must have a drastic rethink of its preparation for
the impending Test tour of India and it has emerged that there is no
obvious hole in the packed international calendar to play the tournament
next year.
The decision to finally postpone the trophy on account of
insurmountable security concerns in Pakistan also means the upheaval
in Australia's once-sacred summer program was for no reason.
Following Australia's short Darwin series against Bangladesh, which
concludes on September 6, there is now a rare break before the much-
anticipated Test series begins in Bangalore on October 9.
Coach Tim Nielsen yesterday swung into action to push for an earlier
arrival in India so the Test players can acclimatise, hopefully with an
extra warm-up game.
"We have to make sure they get the preparation they need. As we
know, preparation in India is paramount to any thought of success,"
said Cricket Australia operations manager Michael Brown.
"He (Nielsen) said to me this morning he has been lying awake thinking
of how does he re-prepare the team now he knows the decision
because he wants to make sure we go there and hit the ground
running."
The postponement of the Champions Trophy to October 2009 (after five
of the eight nations threatened to boycott) will not be easy, given
Australia is supposed to play seven one-day games in India at that
time, and will just have returned from a four-month Ashes tour.
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