THE Karl Auty Trophy, the coveted symbol of cricket supremacy that the US and Canada play for every year, is steeped in history. Rivalry between the neighbours began way back in 1840, well over three decades before England first began touring Australia to play Test matches. But, this year, cricket's oldest surviving rivalry had to make way for the contemporary game's most lucrative match-up: India vs Pakistan. To accommodate the nine-day Sahara Cup '96 in Toronto—the first edition of a series of five one-dayers scheduled to be played annually between the arch-rivals—the Canadian Cricket Association (CCA) chose to shelve the Auty Trophy tie until next year. They sacrificed a bit of the past to get a hold on the future. And gladly.