The 50-overs format should be played only at the World Cups, the incoming president of the Marylebone Cricket Club, Mark Nicholas, has said as the format is fast losing its relevance.
The future of one-day international (ODI) cricket is under doubt after the MCC, the custodians of cricket’s laws, suggested limiting the number of ODI matches after the 2027 World Cup to improve quality and create space for other format matches in the calendar.
ODI cricket is fighting for relevance at a time when shorter-format cricket such as the Twenty20 format seems to be flourishing — both in international cricket and franchise leagues.
T20 franchise leagues around the world, such as the cash-rich Indian Premier League, have changed cricket forever, while lucrative leagues have also come up in new markets such as the U.S., UAE UAE and in developed cricketing nations like England and Wales, Australia, etc.
Nicholas, who succeeded Stephen Fry this weekend as president of cricket's oldest and most prestigious members' club, said that ODI cricket needs to be preserved from the "supernatural" power of the T20 format.
"We believe strongly that ODIs should be World Cups only," Nicholas told ESPNcricinfo website this week. "We think it's difficult bilaterally now to justify them. They're not filling grounds in a lot of countries. And there is a power at the moment to T20 cricket that is almost supernatural.”
Nicholas’ comments come just as the cricketing world gears up for the 2023 ODI World Cup in India. The tournament, to be held across 10 cities over six weeks, will see 10 teams compete for the 50-overs world title. The event will begin in Ahmedabad on Thursday as defending champions England face New Zealand.
Nicholas said the three-hour spectacle of T20 cricket has an “extraordinary” power over ODI cricket.
"It's more than just ticket sales. It's the amount of people that want to own franchises, the amount of countries that want to run tournaments, it's the amount of players that want to be in a market all around the world,” he added.
"In a free market, the most money wins. And that's just the end-game. The players can see that bubbling away and they want to be a part of it. So, it is an extraordinary power that T20 has, and I think scheduling 50-over cricket alongside it just continues the story of the death knell of the ODI game."
There has been a lot of debate over the fate of ODI cricket.
Earlier this year, former India head coach Ravi Shastri said the ODI format must be reduced to 40-overs-a-side competition because the attention span of viewers is diminishing.
“For one-day cricket to survive, I think it should be reduced to a 40-over game in future and the reason I say this is because when we won the World Cup in 1983, it was a 60-over game. Then the attention span of the people diminished and it became a 50-over game. I think the time has come for it to become now a 40-over game. Evolve with the times. Reduce the format,” Shastri was quoted as saying by the Indian Express EXPR newspaper.
