I simply fail to see any point in inviting teams like the United States to the ICC Champions Trophy. Much as the administrators of the game would wish, cricket is not (and will never be) a global game. Let's at least drop the pretense and make sure that all the matches are played among the few countries unfortunate enough to have taken the game seriously enough.

On a related note, Sevanti Ninan's latest column hits the nail on the head vis-a-vis the gobs of cash that cricket attracts:

Why does the Board for Control of Cricket in India (BCCI) need such obscene sums to hand out rights? Our cricketers are not exactly poverty stricken, but they will get 26 per cent of the board's gross revenue, we are told. The bidding has taken the price of international cricket rights within India, for four years, from Rs. 250 crores the last time around, to Rs. 1,400 crores! The Board says it will use the money for the development of cricket in the country. As our recent performance in the Olympics will show, it is all the other sports that are in need of being developed.

I think it is a safe bet to say that a sizeable fraction of the money earned from the telecast rights ends up in the hands of people who have no business even looking at it (this includes some of the cricketers as well).