One day internationals have become a maligned form of cricket. Test cricket is for the traditionalists and long-time spectators, while kids love the smash and bash of Twenty20s.
So why do we have a format plonked in between which is too long for Twenty20 lovers and too short for traditionalists?
In 1971, when we had a Test match between Australia and England washed-out, it was decided to play a 40 overs per side match to give the Melbourne crowd something to watch. Due to the popularity, it became the second format of the game with coloured clothing introduced and a white ball used.
A World Cup was introduced, in which each team batted for 60 overs because it was decided 40 overs was too short. Fair enough when you consider that pre-1971, batsmen always took a good chunk of time to get themselves into a good rhythm.
Day/night ODIs were also introduced so it was more spectator-friendly. In 1987, ODIs started to be played consistently as 50 over matches instead of jumping around between 40 and 60 overs.
Fast forward to 2005 and the first Twenty20 is played between Australia and New Zealand with both teams essentially playing just for fun. A few more Twenty20s started to take place, with countries soon agreeing to the idea of a Twenty20 World Cup.
T20 cricket has since become more and more popular, overtaking ODI and Test cricket to be the format of choice for most people.
Now with T20s exploding and batsmen able to score quicker and quicker, 50 overs for an ODI seems like too long. While some would argue that, how could we possibly decrease it, players are scoring at six runs per over on average, I would argue they are given too long at the crease to build an innings for the way cricket is evolving.
The original idea of one day cricket was to allow people to watch teams get a big score in a short amount of time. We have now established that concept with Twenty20 cricket.
Test cricket is working to accommodate spectators better who don’t want to watch boring maidens over in and over out, but it will always have traditionalists and players will still want to play Test cricket because of the prestige.
ODI cricket doesn’t have the prestige of Test cricket nor the excitement of T20 cricket. That can be changed by reducing the number of overs of ODI cricket to 35.
By reducing to ODIs to 35 overs per team, it eliminates the overs in the middle that are the most boring overs of the format and shortens it from about eight hours down to five hours. It has been made public that over the years, players have said that ODIs are yesterday’s format and needs to be moved on.
ODI cricket may once have been in the best interests of the game but one day cricket was said to need to be a Test-only sport. But we revolutionised. If ODIs get shortened to 35 overs, it would also mean various tournaments similar to the IPL and Big Bash could be played, which is invaluable to the players and their experience and exposure before breaking into the international level.
When you consider most countries domestic cricket competitions, they usually consist of a 4-day competition played over a matter of months. This is a great system that brings the best cricketers in the country and splits them into regions to provide selectors with information as to who should be picked in the Test side.
Additionally, most countries now have a very entertaining Twenty20 competition with international stars and home-grown talent thrashing it out to get international recognition over the course of 4-6 weeks. One-dayers, on the other hand, are often played during a short tournament when the season isn’t in full swing. The international stars don’t sign on for one day cricket.
35-over cricket would be more likely to see international-calibre players keen to play in domestic competitions. It would also be much more popular to watch. This would most likely mean countries and their boards would be less hesitant to play longer one-day competitions because crowds and players would be more engaged.
Another advantage of the format is it wouldn’t require many rule changes. Instead of having bowlers bowl a maximum of ten overs, it simply reduces to a maximum of six.
Test cricket is doing all it can to keep up with the ever-evolving game and one day cricket needs to do the same. It is just too lengthy for today. A shift to a shorter format would benefit both spectators and players so it has little downside.
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