The domestic One-Day Cup has become nothing short of a farce in recent years.
While the Big Bash League is important in its own right, the expansion of the T20 tournament has essentially come at the expense of the domestic one-day roster, with the one-dayers crammed into a tiny three-week window in each of the past five seasons.
This year Cricket Australia have reduced the number of round-robin matches to just the five per side, with every state participating in a bizarre finals structure. Once again most matches will be played on grade pitches and in front of very few fans.
The tournament seems to carry such little relevance with regard to ODI selection, which is concerning when considering the declining performance of the international team since the 2015 World Cup.
Cricket Australia this year had the chance to justify the carnival-style fixture, with an earlier than usual ODI series against South Africa giving the administration the opportunity to schedule the One-Day Cup final relatively close to the first international match on 4 November. The final is set to take place on Wednesday, 10 October, but having it more towards the end of the month would’ve made much more sense.
So bizarre the domestic fixture is that the state players will have to turn their attention to four-day cricket in mid-October, with two Shield matches scheduled ahead of the ODI series. This will not be of any benefit to those pushing for ODI selection, such as Daniel Hughes, Ashton Turner and James Faulkner.
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One of CA’s initial explanations for shifting the One-Day Cup to a three-week window was to assist player preparation in the respective formats and reduce the chopping and changing between 50-over and four-day cricket. There’s every chance the selectors will make frequent changes to the international squad between the UAE tour and the home series against South Africa, making preparation vital for fringe players.
It would have been a much better option to split the domestic one-day fixture in the way Cricket Australia currently do with the Sheffield Shield. A block of five matches per state leading into the November series – before a smaller number of games after the BBL – would’ve helped to prepare players for a late call-up in the event of an injury in the ODI camp.
It is especially important to get the selections right leading into next year’s World Cup. While difficult to imagine a return of the double round robin in the One Day Cup due to an expanded Big Bash, eight matches per state would be a happy medium over the coming seasons to once again make the domestic one-dayers relevant.
We’re actually in a bizarre situation where some players who have been on the cusp of ODI selection in recent years are now without a state contract. Nic Maddinson is a prime example, having been one of the leading run-scorers in the domestic one-dayers for each of the past three seasons. Let’s also not forget Ben Dunk, the man who scored an unbeaten double century only a few years ago.
Several months ago Dan Christian also found himself without a contract despite being a solid contributor in white-ball cricket for a number of years in Victorian colours.
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Players are predominantly picked for the ODI side based on T20 form, mostly due to the fact that the home ODIs generally overlap with the Big Bash in January. Chris Lynn’s selection in 2017 raised some eyebrows as he hadn’t played a domestic one-dayer for Queensland since 2015. D’Arcy Short has been the most recent beneficiary of strong BBL form, having forced his way into the ODI side despite averaging just 31 in domestic 50-over cricket.
While nobody could doubt the raw ability of either player, the selectors must remember that one-day cricket requires a different mindset to the T20 format.
It is important to note that some ODI selections have come about almost exclusively off the back of form in the One-Day Cup. Cameron White is the most obvious example, having been given a few opportunities in recent years although failing to impress on each occasion. Some would argue that White shouldn’t have been selected in the first place due to his age, but it could also be argued that he has been hard done by as a result of CA’s scheduling.
Michael Neser was also deservedly selected for international duties, albeit eight months after playing in his last 50-over match. Form would be much easier to gauge if the domestic competition was scheduled closer to the ODIs.
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