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Can one day cricket be saved and should we even try – it’s a question Australian cricketers have weighed in as T20 comes to dominate the sport’s calendar.
With the T20 World Cup kicking off in Australia on October 16, there is currently all the attention and hype surrounding the shorter form of white ball cricket.
The ‘traditional’ 50-over game that once flooded stadiums and had a huge TV audience has been eclipsed by T20.
However, Australia’s former one-day and T20 skipper Aaron Finch says there is still plenty of life in the format.
“The same discussion keeps coming up every few years when you’re 12 months away from a World Cup,” he said ABC.
“People are trying to find relevance in it, but the World Cup is rolling around and it will be bigger than Ben-Hur again and then there’s a different size on the chopping block.”
Others believe that the game should be reduced to 40 overs per side, with reduced free time and diminishing attention spans in the online age meaning less is more from a marketing perspective.
Australian captain Aaron Finch (L) leads the team with Chloe Symonds (C), daughter of the late Australian cricketer Andrew Symonds
The reduction in overs would also do away with the usual mid-innings silence when both the batting and fielding teams play conservatively in preparation for the more frenetic closing overs.
Australian batsman Usman Khawaja said ’50 overs is just a little too long now’.
‘I’d like more of a day’s cricket if it was 40 overs. I would really do it,’ said Usman Khawaja.
‘A few years ago I played Pro40s in England when they played 40 over cricket. I loved it.
‘T20 cricket is great test cricket is the pinnacle i just feel like cricket for a day if it could be 40 overs i think that would just remove the middle part and it would just be [perfect].
“You get 25 overs and you look up and you think oh shit, there’s only 15 overs left, okay, let’s go again.
“So you don’t have such a small silence. That’s my only objection to a day’s cricket.’
Khawaja said reducing ODI cricket to 40 overs would remove ‘rest period’ in the middle
Zampa is a prolific wicket-taker in ODI cricket but wants to see the overs reduced
Spinner Adam Zampa agrees, saying that if 50 overs were to be kept, it would require some rule changes to make it more fun.
“One-day cricket feels like there are about ten overs in the middle that either need to be scrapped or do something about it, something a little more exciting,” he said.
“Or between 20 and 30 there are bonuses or extra free hits or something like that. Make it a little more interesting.’
Aaron Finch and Ashton Agar both believe there is still plenty of life left in ODI cricket
Although T20 had surpassed ODI cricket as the dominant format, there was no reduction in the number of one-day matches played.
At the time of publication, 134 international ODI matches had been played worldwide by 2022.
There were only 74 in 2021 and 55 in 2020, but those were years of Covid impact.
In 2019, the year in which England hosted the ICC ODI World Cup, 158 matches were played worldwide. In 2018 there were 128 and in 2017 there were 131.
If you go back to the time when ODI cricket was at its best in 1999, when Australia won the famous World Cup after a dramatic semi-final against South Africa, there were 157 matches played. In 2000, 133 matches were played.
More people than ever before tuned in to see Australia play against India in a one-day international in 2020, with 3.2 million viewers. Though these numbers would also be inflated by Covid restrictions at the time.
Test spinner Nathan Lyon said he would like to see more balance between bat and ball to create more even matches rather than the slugathons that have become common in ODI cricket in recent years.
“I’d like to see a ball come back in,” he said.
One ball from one side or both sides, but stop giving the batters a brand new ball. “It’s only 25 overs old. It’s still hard. I’d like to see a reverse swing, put spin back in it.”
Australia’s best spinner Nathan Lyon wants to see more of a bat vs. ball game
Others, like all-rounder Ashton Agar, like ODI cricket as it is.
‘I like it, I like ODI cricket,’ he said.
“It’s just enough time to do enough. You know? Ten overs is a nice amount of bowling time.
“Fifty overs is a good time to hit, as if it gives the boys some time after a few wickets have fallen.
“Yes, I think people are getting frustrated because it might be taking a little too long, but I think it’s because of the arrival of T20 cricket.
“So I like ODI cricket.”
Wicketjeeper/batsman Alex Carey loves ODI cricket and wants it to be shared with more
Wicket-keeper Alex Carey agrees.
‘Oh it flies, absolutely flying, ‘can’t beat it,’ he said.
‘Not me [think ODI cricket is in trouble] and that goes back to the 2019 World Cup in England and the atmosphere was incredible.
“There’s certainly plenty of room in the game for a day of cricket.”