World Cup replaced by India-Sri Lanka ODIs

In a widely predicted move, the ICC on Tuesday confirmed that next year's World Cup will now comprise 49 ODIs between India and Sri Lanka. Following the farcical cancellation of the current West Indies tour, ICC chairman N Srinivasan said it was "too great a risk" to go ahead with the tournament in its present form because "despite my best efforts, cricket is nowadays clearly sadly run by people who love money more than the game itself". The 49 clashes, which for logistical reasons will all take place in Chennai, will replace the scheduled plan for a full tournament in Australia and New Zealand between 14 nations.

Denying suggestions that the idea was yet another step towards cricket becoming the preserve of a centralised elite, a buoyant Mr Srinivasan was defiant: "This is simply not true. Just because only two teams will contest the World Cup doesn't mean it won't be a truly global event. We have invited Dwayne Bravo to do his lovely dancing at the opening ceremony, for example. Er, actually there is a bit of a problem over his fee, but I'm sure it will be fine.

"Also, I know some of the Associate nations who were set to play are complaining that, yet again, we have found a way of holding them back, but let me tell them this: when he is not on commentary, Danny Morrison will be manning a stall selling Guinness and haggis at all 49 matches, so it's pretty hard to claim we're not doing our bit for these countries."

Despite widespread criticism of the move, there was support for the new World Cup format from ECB chairman Giles Clarke: "Mr Srinivasan, as well as having, if I may say, a really lovely selection of shirts and a singing voice to die for, has taken a bold decision to safeguard the future of the game. I know he did that a few months ago, but he has been forced to take another bold decision to safeguard its future, which, in my opinion, is even bolder than his previous bold decision. It is a bit disappointing England now won't be taking part in the World Cup, but let us be honest, our chances of winning a bilateral ODI series in which we're not actually playing are about the same as our chances of Alastair Cook lifting the trophy were anyway. It's no biggie."

Wally Edwards, Cricket Australia chairman, echoed Mr Clarke's sentiments: "They really are lovely shirts," he said.

Asked if they felt any responsibility for the loss of the World Cup, the West Indies Cricket Board said in a statement: "We will only talk to the West Indies Players' Association [WIPA]." Asked if they felt any responsibility for the loss of the World Cup, WIPA said: "Not at all. We readily signed up for the new format of 49 ODIs between India and Sri Lanka as we believe it is a good deal for our members. Some of them have the rather old-fashioned notion that because they now won't get any money because they won't actually be playing any cricket, we've somehow negotiated them a poor settlement. Some people are never happy, frankly."

BCCI secretary Sanjay Patel, meanwhile, denied the changes to cricket's showpiece tournament indicated that Mr Srinivasan's stewardship of the world game wasn't going quite as well as hoped: "Look, just because a whole tour has been cancelled, a national board is in utter disarray and facing a $65m legal claim while cricket's future international schedule has been thrown into utter chaos doesn't mean things are going badly. In any case, even if it is all bad news, what better way to cheer fans up than with another India v Sri Lanka ODI series? Everyone I have spoken to is fully behind the idea, although admittedly the only people I have spoken to do work for Sri Lanka Cricket."

Under a new commitment to leaving nothing to chance, the ICC further announced that in the event the series finishes level, the ECB and CA have offered to cancel next summer's Ashes to allow India and Sri Lanka to play a further 25 ODIs across the UK. "This whole Big Three thing is going really well," they said in a joint statement on BCCI-headed notepaper.