A dispute over player contracts may have dominated the build-up to the tournament,
the final may never have finished, and the increased use of technology may be all that
comes out of it, but the people of Sri Lanka will look back on the third ICC Champions
Trophy with some fondness. Not only did their team share the spoils, but they defeated
the all-conquering and less than popular Australians.
For most of the other teams, there was less satisfaction. The planning of the
tournament left much to be desired. The timing, only five months before the World
Cup, threatened to take the gloss off both. The pitches, slow and getting slower by the
day, ensured this tournament would be no form guide for South Africa. The number
of teams rose, from 11 in Nairobi two years earlier to 12, which did nothing for playing
standards. Apart from Kenya, who took on West Indies, the little guys were crushed
with ridiculous ease and, despite low ticket prices, the public responded by keeping
their bums off seats. The league format, designed to make sure nobody flew a long
way for one match, was a farce: with all but one of the pools containing a Persian-carpet
side - just there to walk all over - the other two teams were contesting a quarter-final
in all but name. The Trophy clearly needed splitting into two, with an elite group
and lower-standard plate competition.
With the monsoon on the horizon, the heat and humidity were intense. Matches not
involving Sri Lanka and India drew minuscule crowds, surprising given that it was the
first time Sri Lanka - finally free of the terror of civil war - had hosted an event of
this magnitude. (The 1996 World Cup should have been bigger, but Australia and West
Indies stayed away on security grounds.)
The early stages were dominated by technology, as Pakistan's Shoaib Malik became
the first victim of an lbw decision deferred to the third umpire. The frequent requests
for arbitration did slow the game down, but it was worth it when glaring gaffes were
avoided. The experiment largely worked for lbws, but the cameras continued to be
hopelessly ineffectual at confirming whether a catch had carried. Time and again,
inconclusive replays gave batsmen the benefit of the doubt, much to the frustration of
fielders convinced they had held a fair catch. After the tournament, the ICC announced
that the use of technology would not be extended: lbw decisions would revert to being
a matter solely for the on-field umpire, while television could still be consulted - ad
nauseam - for whether a catch was clean.
The Colombo air was thick with different scents but seldom with the whiff of an
upset. The nearest thing to a major shock came early on when West Indies pushed
South Africa all the way in a last-ball thriller. Sri Lanka and India - who sent their
best team only after a last-ditch temporary settlement of the contract dispute - thrived
on the sleepy pitches their batsmen love, while Australia were imperious until an
impromptu holiday and the Sri Lankan spinners caught up with them. The watching
populace became more impassioned after that, and 5,000 Indian fans added to the
cacophony at a final that had sound and fury and, sure enough, signified nothing. In
the end, the two false starts summed up the tournament - half-baked and inconclusive.