March 29, 2007	Thursday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 9, 1428

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BRIDGETOWN (Barbados), March 28: Former Australian captain Ian Chappell has called for the World Cup to be shortened. The marathon 2007 tournament in the Caribbean lasts for almost seven weeks and features 16 teams.

But Chappell believes it can be trimmed.

“I am quite happy with the globalising of the game, but I really think the World Cup is running too long at the moment,” said the Australian.

“Let's take the eight major teams as they are. I would then like to see two teams qualify to make it ten and then I would like to see those teams play each other once, so that everybody has played each other,” Chappell said in his www.cricinfo.com column.

“The team that goes on to win the World Cup would have played all the other teams once, no one will have missed out and the tournament will come to an end much faster.”

Chappell also thinks a shortened version would still involve the non-Test playing nations who, with the exception of Ireland, have been generally out of the depth here.

“For those who would then jump up and down and say that there is no encouragement for the minnows, what I would say is that firstly, they play in the qualifying tournament,” added Chappell.

“We had these practice games before the tournament that all the major teams played in, which I thought was a good idea as it helps in getting used to the conditions.

“The minnows could be involved in those games as they could then play against the major sides. I think the most important thing is that it is not so much what you do with the minnows at the World Cup.

“I think it's what you do in between the World Cups to make sure that these teams are getting an opportunity to get better, so that eventually down the line, we get a World Cup where there are 16 teams competing – they're all competitive – and it is an elite tournament.”—AFP