The future of One Day International (ODI) cricket seems to be very uncertain. The effects of Twenty20 cricket (a.k.a Pro20 or T20) seem to be having a negative influence on the ODI game. Cricket Australia has said that the 2015 Cricket World Cup scheduled for Australia is not marketable. The England Cricket Board has scarped their domestic 50-over competition and replaced it with a 40-over game, while in South Africa we play a 45 over game in the MTN Domestic Championships.
Some people have suggested that the ODI game be split into two innings of 25 overs. I think this is a terrible idea; we’re just going to land up with two Twenty20 games in one.
There is simply too much Twenty20 cricket on the go, this year we’ve watched our domestic Twenty20 competition (the Standard Bank Pro20), the Indian Premier League (IPL), the ICC World Twenty20, and we’ll soon watch the Champions League and a few Twenty20 Internationals. That simply is more that a cricket enthusiast can absorb. I do believe there is a place for Twenty20 cricket, it should be use to grow the game and be used as an exhibition, the IPL, Champions league and world cups should be played where cricket is young and needs to be developed.
I have been watching cricket for about twenty years now, and I am a purest at heart. If we allow Twenty20 cricket to impact the ODI game, then it will surely have an impact on the format of test cricket, and we simply cannot allow that to happen.
The following article is a good read on the subject, and a source of some of the above: ODI Cricket on death row
This echoes my thoughts – I was blogging recently on the reasons why ODIs are going to die. Basically because T20 does the same job but better.
http://goodcricketwicket.co.uk/fifty-over-cricket-just-so-vanilla
Posted by GoodCricketWicket | 15. Sep, 2009, 9:01 pm@GoodCricketWicket, but is it really better? Twenty20 cricket is like baseball, swing and hit. There’s no time for a batsman to establish himself an play on from there.
Posted by Shaun Custers | 15. Sep, 2009, 9:12 pmagree with Shaun a good batsmen can hav bad luck n get out and seem bad, and i used to enjoy sitting for a day n watch 1 day cricket. lets hope champs trophey has good attendance, the 45 over domestic crickets last time i went was empty der were more players than players at a dolphins game
Posted by cricfan | 16. Sep, 2009, 11:24 pmThe ICC got the last World Cup horribily wrong.
The Super 8s is a disaster and goes on for ever.
I am of the view that urgent action is needed before the 50 over game is lost to 20/20 cricket.
There should be room for both forms of the game!
Posted by Cricket Bats | 21. Sep, 2009, 9:00 pmI think T20 has just brought an interest to people that might not have had that interest previously. It’s nice for them to go watch a shorter game without getting too bored and distracted, and I think that was the point of promoting it further. It’s all about the money that it brings.
But cricket is not the biggest sport in the world, with only 8 countries worthy of any real mention. It’s always been a purist game, with a Test match being aptly named. You might be good enough to play an ODI, but needed true skill to play for 5 days. These big hitters that the crowd love now would maybe score a quick 50, but it won’t be often, and their innings would seem reckless. The only problem is that they’re not acknoleged like they should be – We only need to look at Kallis to realise that technique and skill isn’t appreciated anymore.
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, ODI cricket should trump T20. There should be one, maybe 2 T20′s per series. They already play way too much. Champs league, IPL, plus all the tours. Would love to see it all, but not for the sacrifice of ODI cricket.
And we just saw Sri Lanka smash 320 in 50 – How is that not entertainment?!
Posted by BlindCripple | 22. Sep, 2009, 8:30 pmI am a purist at heart too, and as far as I am concerned, the loss of 50 over cricket wont be a tragedy. The fact is that money will always win, and soon there wont be any money left for 50 over cricket, becuase lets face it, it is too boring too often. Just recall this last aus vs eng 1 day series. Very boring!
As long as test match cricket stays I am happy. T20 is alright by me, and although I respect 50 over cricket, its just not interesting enough for the general public. Have what the public want in T20 and what the purists want in 5 day. Sorted
Posted by celly | 22. Sep, 2009, 9:45 pm@Celly, the problem with your theory, is that if T20 does trump ODI cricket, then it will impact on test cricket. If ODI cricket dies I can almost guarantee that test cricket’s format will change.
I fully support @BlindCripple’s view.
Posted by SA Cricket Blog | 23. Sep, 2009, 5:16 pm@ SA Cricket Blog: You’re right, we’re already about to see a day/night Test match to try get more people in the stadium. We just need to look at Australia to work out how it’s done. They sell out their Test matches, every time!
@celly – 7 matches is WAY too many these days anyway. England are just ridiculous to have lost the way they did just because they won the Ashes. It happened last time they won too and I’m surprised not more noise was made this time around about it. But it still shows that Test match cricket still means a lot to the big names.
T20 cricket is not for skilled players. Anyone with a bat could play… And anytime a decent, skillful bowler works it out, low runs bore people, even though it makes for good CRICKET and not entertainment for the average person.
Posted by BlindCripple | 23. Sep, 2009, 5:24 pmI asked Mpumelelo Mbangwa for his view on this, via Twitter. He responded to SA Cricket Blog on Twitter:
“I think it has a place, the ftp is not helping coz countries go overkill on number of games.7 is too many 3 match series max” Mpumem
Posted by Shaun Custers | 25. Sep, 2009, 8:24 pm