MUMBAI: The International Cricket Council (ICC) has announced a new tournament the ICC Super Series. It has awarded the rights to stage the inaugural edition of the event to Australia.
 

The ICC Super Series will see the number one team in the world take on a Rest of the World side in a one-off six day Test and three one-day matches. These will be played in Sydney and Melbourne. The event takes place in October 2005 with total prize money expected to top $ 1.7 million.

ICC CEO Malcolm Speed said that the tournament would revive a format of the game which has proven difficult to schedule in recent years.

The last time a team of the world's best players visited Australia was in 1971-1972. Sir Garfield Sobers lead a side including Bishan Bedi, Zaheer Abbas and Clive Lloyd against Ian Chappell's Australian team.

In order to accommodate the tournament the different cricket playing countries have agreed to slightly alter their playing schedule. This will allow their star players free time to participate. The ICC is hoping to conduct the tournament once in four years like the World Cup.

The problem will lie in choosing the members of the rest of the world side. As Speed pointed out, "Choosing between Rahul Dravid, Michael Vaughan, Sachin Tendulkar, Graeme Smith, Jacques Kallis, Inzamam ul-Haq, Stephen Fleming, Brian Lara, Vireder Sehwag and Sourav Ganguly is hard enough. Then you have to choose the all rounder, the wicket-keeper and the bowling attack"