ABSTRACT
There has never been more top-quality sport played around the world. Weary international cricketers typically play 14 Test matches a year and innumerable one-day internationals. Like nature, football abhors a vacuum and fills the calendar accordingly with matches of questionable significance. The injury toll in rugby union rises inexorably. At too many major tournaments, the complaint is that by the time the final comes around the protagonists are exhausted.
